Hospital in the home: nurse safety: exposure to risk and evaluation of organisational policy

This pilot study describes the findings of a survey of the perception of threat versus the actual threat reported by 35 Victorian Hospital In The Home (HITH) nurses. The provision of HITH care has increased significantly in Victoria during the past five years with 42 programs in operation. To explore the effects of this increase in HITH care provision on nurse safety, we investigated how nurses perceive the level of threat in their practice and how they describe potential versus actual threats that they have encountered. The study also examined the level of support and training concerning safety provided to HITH nurses by conducting a review of the relevant educational, policy and procedure documentation of HITH programs. The results show considerable variation between what nurses considered as being a potentially threatening situation versus an actual incident. No significant relationships were detected between the level of threat reported by the nurses and their age or professional experience. We also found that there were important staff safety policy and procedural omissions in some HITH programs. In some cases these omissions were of a degree that may expose the employer to claims of negligence should a serious incident occur.