[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 133 (Tuesday, July 12, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40916-40917]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-17407]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-11-11IP]


Proposed Data Collections Submitted for Public Comment and 
Recommendations

    In compliance with the requirement of Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 for opportunity for public comment on 
proposed data collection projects, the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention (CDC) will publish periodic summaries of proposed projects. 
To request more information on the proposed projects or to obtain a 
copy of the data collection plans and instruments, call 404-639-5960 
and send comments to Daniel Holcomb, CDC Reports Clearance Officer, 
1600 Clifton Road, MS-D74, Atlanta, GA 30333 or send an e-mail to 
[email protected].
    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways 
to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, 
including through the use of automated collection techniques or other 
forms of information technology. Written comments should be received 
within 60 days of this notice.

Proposed Project

    Workplace Violence Prevention Programs in NJ Healthcare 
Facilities--New--National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 
(NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    The long-term goal of the proposed project is to reduce violence 
against healthcare workers. The objective of the proposed study is two-
fold: (1) To examine healthcare facility compliance with the New Jersey 
Violence Prevention in Health Care Facilities Act, and (2) to evaluate 
the effectiveness of the regulations in this Act in reducing assault 
injuries to workers. Our central hypothesis is that facilities with 
high compliance with the regulations will have lower rates of employee 
violence-related injury. First, we will conduct face-to-face interviews 
with the chairs of the Violence Prevention Committees who are in charge 
of overseeing compliance efforts. The purpose of the interviews is to 
measure compliance to the state regulations (violence prevention 
policies, reporting systems for violent events, violence prevention 
committee, written violence prevention plan, violence risk assessments, 
post incident response and violence prevention training). Second, we 
will also collect assault injury data from facility violent event 
reports 3 years pre- regulation (2009-2011) and 3 years post-regulation 
(2012-2014). The purpose of collecting these data is to evaluate 
changes in assault injury rates before and after enactment of the 
regulations. Third, we will conduct a nurse survey. The survey will 
describe the workplace violence prevention training nurses receive 
following enactment of the New Jersey regulations.
    Healthcare workers are nearly five times more likely to be victims 
of violence than workers in all industries combined. While healthcare 
workers are not at particularly high risk for job-related homicide, 
nearly 60% of all nonfatal assaults occurring in private industry are 
experienced in healthcare. Six states have enacted laws to reduce 
violence against healthcare workers by requiring workplace violence 
prevention programs. However, little is understood about how effective 
these laws are in reducing violence against healthcare workers.
    We will test our central hypothesis by accomplishing the following 
specific aims:
    1. Compare the comprehensiveness of healthcare facility workplace 
violence prevention programs before and after enactment of the New 
Jersey regulations; Working hypothesis: Based on our preliminary 
research, we hypothesize that enactment of the regulations will improve 
the comprehensiveness of hospital workplace violence prevention program 
policies, procedures and training.
    2. Describe the workplace violence prevention training nurses 
receive following enactment of the New Jersey regulations; Working 
hypothesis: Based on our preliminary research, we hypothesize that 
nurses receive at least 80% of the workplace violence prevention 
training components mandated in the New Jersey regulations.
    3. Examine patterns of assault injuries to workers before and after 
enactment of the regulations; Working hypothesis: Based on our 
preliminary research, we hypothesize that rates of assault injuries to 
workers will decrease following enactment of the regulations.
    Healthcare facilities falling under the regulations are eligible 
for study inclusion (i.e., general acute care hospitals and psychiatric 
facilities). We will conduct face-to-face interviews with the chairs of 
the Violence Prevention Committees, who as stated in regulations, are 
in charge of overseeing compliance efforts. These individuals will 
include hospital administrators, security directors and/or risk 
managers, many of whom participated in the California study. The 
purpose of the interviews is to measure compliance to the state 
regulations (Aim 1). The interview form was pilot-tested by the study 
team in the fall 2010 and includes the following components as mandated 
in the regulations: Violence prevention policies, reporting systems for 
violent events, violence prevention committee, written violence 
prevention plan, violence risk assessments, post-incident response and 
violence prevention training. Questions will also be asked about 
barriers and facilitators to developing the violence prevention 
program.
    These data will be collected in the post-regulation time period; 
data collected from New Jersey hospitals in the California study will 
be used as the baseline measure for evaluating compliance. We will also 
collect assault injury data from facility violent event reports 3 years 
pre-regulation (2009-2011) and 3 years post-regulation (2012-2014). The 
purpose of collecting these data is to evaluate changes in assault 
injury rates before and after enactment of the regulations (Aim 3). The 
abstraction form was developed to collect the specific reporting 
components stated in the regulations: Date, time and location of the 
incident; identity, job title and job task of the victim; identity of 
the perpetrator; description of the violent act, including whether a 
weapon was used; description of physical injuries; number of employees 
in the vicinity when the incident occurred, and their actions in 
response to the incident; recommendations of police advisors, employees 
or consultants, and; actions taken by the facility in response to the 
incident. No employee or perpetrator identifiable information will be 
collected.

[[Page 40917]]

    In addition to health care facilities, nurses will also be 
recruited. These nurses will be recruited from a mailing list of nurses 
licensed from the State of New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs 
Board of Nursing. The mailing list was selected as the population 
source of workers due to the ability to capture all licensed nurses in 
New Jersey. A similar listing does not exist for non-licensed frontline 
workers, such as aides and orderlies. Therefore, a sampling frame based 
on nurses (registered nurses and licensed practical nurses) will be 
used to select workers to participate in the study. A random sample of 
2000 registered and licensed practical nurses will be recruited for 
study participation. A third-party contractor will be responsible for 
sending the survey to the random sample of 2000. The Health 
Professionals and Allied Employees union will promote the survey to 
their members. To maintain the worker's anonymity, the facility in 
which he/she works will not be identified. The survey will describe the 
workplace violence prevention training nurses receive following 
enactment of the New Jersey regulations (Aim 2).
    There are no costs to respondents other than their time.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                                      Average
                                                     Number of       Number of      burden per     Total burden
                   Respondents                      respondents    responses per   response  (in     (in hrs)
                                                                    respondent         hrs)
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Hospital Administrators.........................              50               1               1              50
Nurses (RN and LPN).............................            2000               1           20/60             667
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............             717
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Catina Conner,
Acting Reports Clearance Officer, Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2011-17407 Filed 7-11-11; 8:45 am]
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