Violent acts toward the health care workforce continue to plague all areas of the health care industry. Workplace violence (WPV) in health care has been well documented for several decades. The COVID-19 pandemic brought this issue to the forefront when violence against health care workers was widely reported in several professional journals and media outlets. Due to the increased focus on workplace violence and efforts of the workforce who have endured physical and psychological injuries, several health care oversight agencies have stepped forward, publishing standards and/or regulations for health care organizations to ensure the safety of their workforce. This presentation will focus on efforts at the national, state (Texas), and local levels to address this significant issue. 

Karen Garvey serves as the Vice President for Safety & Clinical Risk Management for Parkland Health in Dallas, Texas. Reporting to the Chief Quality & Safety Officer, her current responsibilities include health system oversight of Regulatory & Accreditation, Patient Safety and Clinical Risk Management, Quality & Safety Education and has been heavily involved in the Parkland journey to becoming a High Reliability Organization. Additionally, she is the Executive Sponsor for the SPARKs (Supporting Parkland Staff) Peer Support Program, is the Chairperson for Workforce Safety Initiatives involving proactive and reactive strategies to decrease violence against our employees and physicians. She serves on local, state, and national committees collaborating to collectively address this significant issue. She is often requested to speak in forums about various levels of work to address the issue. In March 2023, Karen testified in Austin, Texas on behalf of Parkland to the Texas House Committee on Public Health in support of the HB 112 for the prevention of workplace violence against healthcare workers. The bill passed, was signed into law on May 15, 2023, and where the penalties of those harming any health care worker will be more severe. The law became effective September 1, 2023, with all Texas healthcare organizations to be complying by September 1, 2024. 

Karen is also active in the American Society for Healthcare Risk Managers (ASHRM) where she is currently serving a second term as a member of the ASHRM Board of Managers. In her love of mentoring healthcare professionals in these specialties, she has been active as national teaching faculty for the ASHRM and Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) for each organization's national certification courses. She has been active on the IHI Workforce Safety, Well Being and Equity Workgroup where she is an Advisory lead and is a participant in the AHA Hospital Against Violence Workgroup. Karen has attained two fellowships in Patient Safety through the HERT Patient Safety Leadership Fellowship and the Harvard Consortium Senior Patient Safety Executive Leadership Course. 

Karen received the DFW Great 100 Award for Nurses in 2017, the Healthcare Risk Management Leadership Award for ASHRM in October 2019, the ASHRM Presidential Citation Award for ASHRM in October 2021 and the Parkland inaugural DAISY award for Nursing Ethics. Karen was highlighted as "Leader to Watch" in the October 2023 AONL Nurse Leader publication.

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