The Rise of Lone Workers in the US Healthcare Industry
Table of Contents
Who are lone workers?
The following criteria also define a lone worker in the healthcare industry:
The rise of lone healthcare workers in the US
H.R.1195 - Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act
Workplace violence prevention plan
What is the most common injury to healthcare workers while working in the field and working alone?
Over the past year, the number of people working alone or remotely has increased significantly, particularly in healthcare, where workers are increasingly by themselves because of social distancing guidelines or health authorities trying to provide care in the homes.
Who are lone workers?
In simple terms, lone workers are people who work without any direct supervision or management monitoring their work activities. A lone worker is a broad term. Any person who works as a contractor, a healthcare worker, anyone employed in healthcare safety, and self-employed individuals fall under the umbrella.
Lone workers also include those individual people who are required on the premises, such as shops, workshops, kiosk stands – places where they are often alone. Employees who work separately from the other staff are also considered lone workers. These workers include specialist training and maintenance workers, and self-employed individuals are also regarded as lone workers.
Other lone workers include service staff, postal staff, social workers, district nurses, truck drivers, engineers, sales representatives from corporate businesses, and real estate agents
The following criteria also define a lone worker in the healthcare industry:
When a nurse is employed at a patient’s home.
When a healthcare professional is alone, providing face-to-face consultation with a patient.
When helping a patient exit the hospital after a successful recovery.
When he or she is the first person to enter or the last to leave the healthcare facility.
The rise of lone healthcare workers in the US
Over the past decade, we have seen a dramatic increase in healthcare workers, particularly because of a growing aging population, a population with greater demand for healthcare services. According to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics, “employment in healthcare occupations is projected to grow 15 percent from 2019 to 2029, much faster than the average for all occupations, adding about 2.4 million new jobs.” And according to the US Census Bureau, by 2050, “the population aged 65 and over is projected to be 83.7 million, almost double its estimated population of 43.1 million in 2012.” While a major portion of these aging people will live in senior care facilities, many are choosing to spend the rest of their lives in the comfort of their own homes, creating the growing need for critical services, such as home and community healthcare.
“Employment in healthcare occupations is projected to grow 15 percent from 2019 to 2029, much faster than the average for all occupations, adding about 2.4 million new jobs.”
Because of the growing demand for home healthcare services, more and more nurses and healthcare workers are venturing into patients’ homes, making them vulnerable to a range of safety hazards such as violence and assault, as well as biological and viral dangers. According to an International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety (IAHSS) survey, up to 61 percent of home care nurses have experienced some form of workplace violence.
These numbers are obviously creating some hesitancy about working in patients’ homes and the community, leaving health authorities and employers with the challenge of protecting these workers while they are on the job alone.
View our previous blog articles on healthcare workers and working alone:
Are Health and Community Care Workers Classified As Lone Workers
Hazards and the Growing Need for Safety in Community Healthcare
H.R.1195 - Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act
Early this year (February 2021), the US Congress passed the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act, which requires the Department of Labor to address workplace violence in healthcare, social service, and other related sectors. According to Congressman Joe Courtney who has spearheaded the issue since 2013, this legislation “compels OSHA to do what employees, safety experts, and Members of Congress have been calling for years – create an enforceable standard to ensure that employers are taking these risks seriously, and creating safe workplaces that their employees deserve.”
Workplace violence prevention plan
The basis of this Act requires employers to develop a comprehensive workplace violence prevention plan that proactively puts protections in place to keep healthcare and social workers safe from any violence incidents. According to the legislation, this plan must:
Be developed and implemented with the meaningful participation of direct care employees, other employees, and employee representatives, for all aspects of the Plan;
Be tailored and specific to conditions and hazards for the covered facility or the covered service, including patient-specific risk factors and risk factors specific to each work area or unit; and
Be suitable for the size, complexity, and type of operations at the covered facility or for the covered service, and remain in effect at all times.
Your workplace violence prevention plan must include proactive hazard prevention measures such as:
Work practice controls such as “security and alarm systems, adequate exit routes, monitoring systems, barrier protection, established areas for patients and clients, lighting, entry procedures, staffing and working in teams, and systems to identify and flag clients with a history of violence.”
Developed violence reporting, incident response, and post-incident investigation procedures.
Procedures for emergency response, including procedures for threats of mass casualties and procedures for incidents involving a firearm or a dangerous weapon.
Procedures for communicating with and training the covered employees on workplace violence hazards, threats, and work practice controls, the employer’s plan, and procedures for confronting, responding to, and reporting workplace violence threats, incidents, and concerns, and employee rights.
What is the most common injury to healthcare workers while working in the field and working alone?
The following injuries are widespread in the healthcare industry. Unfortunately, the compromised safety of healthcare workers is non-negotiable and continues to be a sensitive topic among them.
1. Sprain and strains
National data has surfaced showing that simple sprains and strains are the most common injuries experienced by healthcare workers. The body areas severely affected are the lower back and the shoulders.
2. Slipped discs
Healthcare workers are constantly required to move patients from one location to another, be it assistance in the bathroom or helping them lie down or exit the bed. In addition, some patients require assistance to sit up straight merely. Unfortunately, regularly providing this physical assistance can sometimes result in slipped discs or back injuries.
3. Blood-borne infections
Healthcare workers also operate use syringes during their shifts. They are constantly coming in close contact with patients to either inject or pierce to collect blood samples. Performing such medical procedures increases their chance of contracting blood-borne infections such as Hepatitis C and B, and HIV or AIDs while handling patients.
4. Falls and slips
Healthcare workers may also suffer from slipping or falling on the floor. A common reason is due to fluids or water left on the floor. A severe fall can break bones or fracture several limbs of the body.
What can employers do to protect lone healthcare workers?
1) Policymaking: Establish a lone worker policy
Healthcare authorities must develop and implement distinct lone worker policies to safeguard the health of the workers. These procedures must also be constantly revised to counter the changes in the job tasks, tools, and circumstances.
2) Hazard and Risk assessment
Risk assessment documentation involves healthcare workers learning about the harm they may receive at work and the potential dangers they might face. It also involves the steps taken to prevent and mitigate any identified hazards.
Download our free Hazard Assessment ebook
3) Risk elimination and mitigation
After risk assessment, the next logical step is to eliminate and mitigate the risks. To improve their safety, any relevant personal information is communicated to relevant healthcare workers before being assigned to patients. The healthcare workers are trained before working with any sensitive, at-risk Individuals.
4) Training
Healthcare workers require training to identify and prevent events from de-escalating. It is a part of the syllabus which prepares them to understand and lead the situation. Healthcare is a sensitive job by nature. Therefore, the ultimate priority of the industry is to protect healthcare workers. When provided with relevant tools for their safety and work, healthcare workers must also be trained to use these devices for their protection.
5. Open and comfortable safety culture
While this doesn’t happen overnight, it is well worth the efforts to create a workplace safety culture where workers feel comfortable enough to speak up about any potential safety issues. In a 2020 study on the “effectiveness of safety voice in healthcare,” researchers found that, “further discussion illuminated the essence of safety voice and to those who knew what it is, recommended that it is encouraged by the management as it will yield tangible ideas and solutions to keeping employees in the home health field safe.”
Read more on our previous blog article Speaking up to your team about safety culture
6. Work alone system: Employee safety app, lone worker safety app and location tracking
Last but not least is the provision of a lone worker safety app that consist of a panic button device, monitoring and location-tracking technology in the case of an emergency such as a violent guest. In such stressful situations, a monitoring or check-in system is valuable because, essentially, help can be requested when the healthcare worker is unable to.
Let’s recognize the amazing work
Because the care and work benefit so many of us and our families, it is up to us to show our appreciation for their endless efforts and sleepless nights by acknowledging their service, especially in times of a global medical crisis. If you ever see a nurse out in your community, make sure you give them a smile and a thank you for their work.