The results of a recently answered survey carried out by Medscape indicate that 47 percent of physicians and 71 percent of nurses had been harassed by patients at some point in their professional careers. This includes behaviors such as following someone around and trying to speak with them, repeatedly contacting them, making inappropriate contact through social media, and physically harassing them.
These results need to serve as a caution to medical practices, signaling that maybe they should give serious thought to the risk that customers would victimize physicians as well as other members of the staff. This warning has to be given as a result of these issues. Even though hearing about these experiences is extremely distressing and painful, the knowledge they offer is essential and might be utilized to help avoid sexual assault allegations in the healthcare business.
Preventative care is the most cost-effective kind of medical treatment.
After hearing about occurrences that occurred in corporate healthcare businesses, physicians may erroneously feel that sexual sexual harassment in a care sector exclusively occurs in professional environments. This is a misconception that can be caused by hearing about comparable incidents.
On the other hand, even after hearing about these sexual harassment California instances involving large corporate healthcare businesses, some doctors may still be under the impression that sexual harassment is not an issue in the smaller clinics where they work.
It is conceivable for harassment to occur everywhere; as a result, it is the legal obligation of all enterprises, regardless of whether they are massive health systems or individually owned doctor’s clinics, to safeguard their employees from being subjected to sexual harassment.
Without Harassment Guidelines, A Toxic Work Environment Is Fostered
Work conditions that are unfair and unpleasant for both staff workers and patients, either within the ranks of the staff members themselves or between care workers and patients. These conditions may arise either inside staff members themselves or between professional employees and clients.
Every medical practice ought to develop appropriate guidelines and allot sufficient resources for the purpose of education, the prevention of harassment, and the investigation of allegations of harassment. These three goals should all be addressed in an effort to eliminate harassment in the medical field. Not only are these steps essential for ensuring that legal obligations are satisfied, but they are also necessary for creating an atmosphere in the workplace that is safe and courteous for all of the workers.
This sort of continuous worker education ought to be as prevalent in smaller medical offices as state-mandated tuberculosis screening, pre-employment screening, and other protocols that are meant to safeguard workers, patients, and eventually the entire practice. Becker’s Hospital Review indicates that twelve percent of healthcare clinics do not have a policy against harassment, which is in line with the findings of a recent survey that was performed on a smaller scale and was published recently.
If the necessary safeguards are taken, it is feasible to protect physician practices, their employees, and their patients from the potentially life-altering repercussions of harassment. This protection includes the patients themselves.
The Legal Framework Governing Harassment and Discrimination in the Workplace
Even while these restrictions typically only apply to businesses with 15 workers or more, smaller organizations may still be subject to state and local laws addressing the same problems, and they may be liable for both money damages. For this reason, it is essential that all employers develop efficient policies, procedures, and penalties that have been drafted and authorized by legal counsel with expertise in employment law.
On its website, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) offers a succinct overview of who does and does not constitute criminal harassment, who are harassers plus victims, and the situations whereby employers are liable. Click here for an in-depth definition and key details about the EEOC. If a manager is indeed the alleged harasser, however, the employer is immediately at fault until it can show that it took appropriate measures to protect and try to remedy the sexual harassment conduct and that the victim declined to consider full advantage of opportunities.
In this situation, the employer is immediately at fault before it can show that it took appropriate measures to protect as well as rectify the sexual misconduct behavior and that the victim declined to take full advantage of the opportunities.
The Application of Industry-Recognized Best Practices in Order to Create a Secure and Positive Working Environment
Create a written policy that describes remedial measures, including a detailed explanation of what sexual harassment is and how it should be reported, and identifies the methods and people involved in the reporting process. Visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_harassment for additional info.
Make sure that all of the personnel receive training. Make sure that all members of management and supervisory staff are aware of their specific duties, and make sure that every member of staff is informed of how to report an incident.
As a way to remind everyone on the management team of their responsibilities to the organization, a yearly leadership review or a “annual checkup” of procedures and rules should be scheduled. It is also suitable for the department of human resources or legal counsel to conduct an evaluation once a year.
Andrea Parker is a reporter for Zobuz. She previously worked at Huffington Post and Vanity Fair. Andrea is based in NYC and covers issues affecting her city. In addition to her severe coffee addiction, she’s a Netflix enthusiast, a red wine drinker, and a voracious reader.
