SOCW 6520 WK 3 peer responses Make a suggestion to your colleagues post. Expand on your colleagues posting. Intext citation and full references for each peer response after the response of each My personal safety plan would not differ from my current agency directives, but I would develop a policy for follow-up to victimization and trauma suffered by staff. Serious incidents, such as a personal threat, assault, or a staff fatality are significant emotional events. These have the power, because of the circumstances in which they occur, to cause unusual psychological distress in a healthy, normal individual. These types of events also point out the necessity of providing for an agency-wide support system to assist victims and staff in the recovery process. Reference Birkenmaier, J., & Berg-Weger, M. (2018). The practicum companion for social work: Integrating class and fieldwork (4th Workplace safety is an important part of any profession. Social workers however, often work in challenging situations, late or long hours, and with challenging populations and therefore are at an increased risk of harm and/or violence (Birkenmaier & Berg-Weger, 2018). In order to ensure social workers are safe while on the job, many agencies have protocols in place to ensure staff are safe while either in the office or out in the field. For my internship at Valleys Best Hospice, field safety is of high priority. Webinar training videos and quizzes were assigned to me for completion during week one. According to their manual, staff are to assess for risk factors before and during home visits with patients and report any threat or risk of harm to the main office immediately as well as calling 9-1-1 in case of an emergency (NHPCO, 1996). Hospice home healthcare services often pose several risks for staff including work in dangerous neighborhoods, midnight calls for urgent care, and high strung friends and family members of the ailing patient. For this reason, it is critical that workers (and volunteers) take necessary precautions to ensure safety. Birkenmaier and Berg-Weger (2018) recommend reading through patient casenotes when assigned a new or unfamiliar case to assess for any potential concerns for violence or safety, also, know where you are going; update work calendar to reflect address information for field appointments and notify the office if any changes come up. Social work interns need to be vigilant at all times. Often times when our work as social workers is heart driven and we can lose sight of the potential safety concerns around us. I know for me, I am guilty of often thinking, I am a good person out here to help others and so is everyone else! Oliver et al. (2013) calls this false consensus bias and emphasizes the need to stay vigilant while working with challenging populations in unsafe settings. Birkenmaier, J., & Berg-Weger, M. (2018). (4th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson. National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO). (1996). Hospice code of Ethics: Volunteer training manual. The Hospice Journal, Vol 11(2), 1996. Oliver, D. P., Demiris, G., Wittenberg-Lyles, E., Gage, A., Dewsnap-Dreisinger, M. L., & Luetkemeyer, J. (2013). Patient safety incidents in hospice care: observations from interdisciplinary case conferences. , (12), 15611567. https://doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2013.0104
