New Ad Campaign Encourages More Respectful Interactions in Health Care Facilities

The Maryland Patient Safety Center has unveiled a new health care workplace violence campaign, Care Flows Both Ways, that highlights the need for patients and visitors to treat everyone with respect as care is given.

The campaign reminds the public that health care is built on trust and compassion, but when tensions and temperatures run high, it’s easy to forget the people behind the care — the doctors, nurses, and staff dedicated to helping the healing process.

“Our health care facilities are beacons of care and healing for Marylanders, however too often our health care workers face threats, intimidation, and violence. When we, as patients, caregivers and family members, let our fear and frustration take over, it creates unsafe conditions and makes it harder for health care workers to do their jobs,” said Stephanie Peditto, president and CEO of the Maryland Patient Safety Center. “We hope this campaign helps each of us remember to choose kindness and respect and understand that ‘Care Flows Both Ways.’”

Throughout the campaign, Marylanders will hear directly from health care workers about providing care to their patients, only to come face-to-face with violence. These workers handle these high-stress situations by combining critical thinking, multitasking and adaptability. The ads, which started to run at the end of February, encourage people to learn more about how to navigate health care settings with empathy at the ItTakesPatients.org website.

Lena Sutch, a registered nurse who worked in the Emergency Department explained, “When you encounter workplace violence, it takes away from everybody else. You can't focus on the care that you need to give people. You can't make everybody else feel safe. And it often scares the other patients and the other visitors, too.”

Alarmingly 75% of workplace assaults occur in health care settings, according to the Occupational Safety Health Administration.

The campaign website, www.ittakespatients.org, also provides resources for the public to help navigate health care spaces and make them safer and more comfortable for patients and families, health care workers, and health care organizations.

Care Flows Both Ways is being launched by the Maryland Patient Safety Center and is funded by the state of Maryland. The campaign was developed in partnership with the Maryland Hospital Association and was created by Mission, a Baltimore-based advertising agency, which is also leading the execution of the campaign. Ads will run through the end of May on outdoor billboards, television, and radio, and in digital and social media.