Addressing Safety in Home Care Essay -- Health Care, Registered Nurses

A universal aspiration for all Registered Nurses (RN) and workplace environments is to create a safe atmosphere for both the client and employees. The RN has an obligation to ensure, â€Å"a culture of safety by using established occupational health and safety practices, and other safety measures to protect client, self and colleagues from injury or potentially abusive situations† (Saskatchewan Registered Nurses’ Association, 2007, p. 11). This competency guides RN’s to provide and advocate safe practice environments. Thus, the issue this paper will discuss is Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S). The population being focused on is home care, which is, â€Å"care provided to patients in their homes to restore their functional capacity, to allow them to manage their care independently, and to enable them to remain safely in the community† (Panasci, 2009, p.190). The writer received consent from the Home Support Team Manager from the Prince Albert Park land Health Region (PAPHR) who will be referred to as O.S. By conducting an interview in conjunction with O.S, the writer gained insight into the manager’s role, challenges, and ensuring OH&S practices. For the all-inclusive interview refer to Appendix A. This paper will depict the essence of OH&S, the manager and writer’s approaches and strategies to resolving the challenges. Management Challenge The challenge that was the focus of the interview was OH&S in a home care environment and the difficulties associated with the implementation of minimizing occupational hazards. OH&S prevents and protects employees from workplace hazards (Chadwick & Doyle, 2008). The six types of health and safety hazards are biological, chemical, ergonomic, physical, psychosocial, and safety (Chadwick &... ...hem and if they decide not to use them, the manager could give a verbal warning for the first incident and for the second incident, give a written warning. The manager could also use this tactic with rock salt or kitty litter (Fox, 2011). Conclusion The goal of maintaining a safe environment for both the workers and clients in home care is key. This goal is a constant issue in home care; with the most significant hazards indentified are violence and environmental hazards that were addressed. O.S’s management philosophy was par with what literature was explaining. The writer explains how having a constant evaluatory tool may help with maintaining a safe environment for both client and staff. Most importantly, one of the nursing values and ethical responsibilities is, â€Å"providing safe, compassionate, competent and ethical care† (Code of Ethics, 2008, p. 8).