Dr Elizabeth Donnelly1, Mandy Johnston2, Dr. Justin Mausz2,3
1University Of Windsor, Windsor, Canada, 2Paramedic Services, Region of Peel, Brampton, Canada, 3Department of Family and Community Medicine, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Biography:
Elizabeth Donnelly, PhD, MPH, LICSW, NREMT is a Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada.
Mandy Johnston, ACP, is an Acting Division Commander at Peel Regional Paramedic Services and Program Lead for the External Violence Against Paramedics (EVAP) portfolio.
Abstract:
Introduction
For leaders in paramedicine, understanding best practices for mitigating violence against frontline personnel has been difficult to find. Violence has historically been thought of as an unavoidable part of the job and is frequently unreported.
Methods
To address this culture of underreporting, a paramedic service in Ontario, Canada undertook a comprehensive approach to violence prevention, including research to understand why paramedics did not report violence, development of a working group to develop applied, practical solutions, including changes in policy, creation of a simplified reporting framework, a commitment to respond administratively to violence, and post-program evaluation, and the development of and deployment of a comprehensive risk identification and harm mitigation training program.
Results
This program, initially deployed in 2018, has resulted in significant organizational changes, including a culture shift, where willingness to report more than doubled, with 85% of paramedics saying that the new process encouraged them to report similar incidents in the future, as well as adoption of the External Violence Against Paramedics (EVAP) program by over 20 other services in Ontario. Outputs from this program, including eight peer reviewed publications, have received awards from multiple national organizations and been used to advocate for legislation on the Federal level.
Conclusion
Violence as an occupational hazard is not an unavoidable consequence of the job, the EVAP program demonstrates how organizations, in collaboration with researchers, can develop effective and sustainable solutions.