The Unió Catalana d'Hospitals, an association of health and social organisations, commissioned by the Dependency Care Sector Council, has drawn up a 'Violence and harassment prevention guide in Dependency care centres' with objective of protecting the physical and psychological integrity of professionals.
The director of the Residencia Collblanc Companies Socials, Maribel Uribe, was part of the expert commission that drew up this guide, which thus gives continuity to the Guide to preventing violence and harassment in the workplace in the health sector, published in 2013 by Unió and in which the Integral Health Consortium also participated.
As explained by the general director of La Unió, Helena Ris i Romeu, "several reports, in the social sector, where people in a situation of dependency are taken care of (elderly people, people with physical and mental disabilities), as well as in the in the health field, there is an average of incidents of violence at work that is comparatively higher than other sectors of activity. In this sense, one of the risks to which professionals are subjected in the performance of their work derives from the relationship with other people ". Faced with the consequences of these situations, Ris considers it "essential to define guidelines for action in any violent situation caused by residents, users of the service or by family members or people linked to the professionals of social entities or between professionals".
Thus, the new guide outlines different situations of violence or incidents in which a professional may be involved (physical, verbal or psychological assaults) and establishes three protocols aimed at:
• prevent, detect and deal with possible situations of violence from users towards professionals.
• act in the face of a situation of verbal and/or physical aggression between workers.
• act in the face of a situation of harassment among the center's staff.
The guide is accessible to everyone and can be downloaded at La Unió website.
