Gold Apple Workplace Health Innovation

WHI

VGH Emergency Department Healthy Workplace Initiative
Vancouver Coastal Health

Vancouver General Hospital’s (VGH) emergency department is one of the largest and busiest in the province. As you’d expect in a busy ER, the environment can be stressful, and staff face more than their fair share of difficult situations and incidents, including aggressive or violent patients.

Two years ago, staff reported that they didn’t have anyone to talk to about difficult incidents and they didn’t feel comfortable raising concerns. Some staff reported feeling unsafe at work and morale suffered as a result. VGH recognized something had to be done for the safety and well-being of both staff and patients, and a multi-disciplinary team was formed with the goal of working together to improve workplace health and safety.

The initiative has yielded positive results in all areas of health and safety, leading to an improved working climate where staff report feeling engaged and better able to provide the type of quality care that emergency patients deserve.

For tacking a difficult challenge head-on, and engaging all stakeholders in developing solutions, we award the Gold Apple in Workplace Health Innovation to Vancouver General Hospital’s Healthy Workplace Initiative.

Project Team: Parm Hari, Michelle de Moor, Barbara Casson, Lori Korchinski, Dr. Chad Kim Sing, Dr. Heather Lindsay, Susan Harrison Salt, Lori Quinn, Lara Gurney, Scott Maher, Alexia Simeoni, Sarah Turner, David Pledger, Cathy Bennett, Jill Phillips, Stacy Sprague, Simone Riml, Melanie Johannson, Esther Eidse, Chris Fornelli, Gail Allison, Kelly Frankson, Tracy Norman, Lori Benning, Jaime Gallaher

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