Scared To Go to Work: A Home Care Performance Improvement Initiative

The incident report read, "His arm was tightly locked around my neck. His free arm was touching me while he said terrible, obscene things he intended to do. My heart was pounding. My mind was racing, unable to think rationally. I needed to focus on an escape plan. I was too terrified to think. I just aimlessly struggled. It seemed like an eternity, then, somehow I broke loose." Reading the words on the incident report was horrible. But, nothing compared to seeing the young nurse's eyes, as she stood, barely able to speak, in the office doorway of her manager. There was no doubt that immediate intervention was needed to improve safety at our home health agency.