How Lone Worker Apps Protect Home Healthcare Workers
Table of Contents
Key risks for home healthcare workers
The emotional toll
Features of lone worker apps that enhance safety
Benefits of lone worker apps in home healthcare
Addressing organizational challenges
Empowering home healthcare workers
At some point in our lives, we are likely to require the services and support of a home healthcare worker. We could be helping a loved one or ourselves with professional medical, mobility, or other types of help in the comfortable environment of our homes. However, this excellent service to the community comes with a significant risk to the safety of the workers. There are approximately 3.2 million home health and personal care aides in the United States.
By coming into homes and the community, these people are at risk of a diverse range of serious occupational hazards, including assault and violence, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), and other injuries, as well as bloodborne pathogens and biological hazards that they cannot see. According to researchers, nearly 20 percent of healthcare workers experience physical abuse at work. While these workers make up approximately 10% of the U.S. workforce, they experience 48% of all nonfatal injuries resulting from workplace violence. People who work alone are at greater risk than those who work with coworkers; nearly 70% of organizations have reported a safety incident involving a lone worker in the past three years, with 1 in 5 of these incidents described as “quite or very severe.” But probably most shocking, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that homecare workers experience more than 1.5 the national rate of workplace injuries for all industries.
For a profession that performs such an excellent service to the community, it is up to government bodies and employers to take all steps necessary to ensure home healthcare workers can perform their jobs and work safely. This includes violence-prevention legislation and regulations, ongoing safety training and education, and the latest, most current technologies and communication devices, such as lone worker apps, to ensure they can stay connected when working alone in a client’s home.
Easily downloaded onto a smartphone or tablet, a lone worker app is one of the most effective and least intrusive safety monitoring technologies for home healthcare workers. This mobile technology offers different features and mitigative tools to address the diverse occupational hazards that home healthcare workers can potentially encounter while in clients’ homes.
Key risks for home healthcare workers
In addition to assault and violence, breathable biological hazards, and ergonomic injuries, the key occupational risk that home healthcare workers and employers need to be aware of is the danger of working for the first time in an unfamiliar environment that may have unforeseen and hidden hazards. The client and the circumstances can be assessed beforehand; however, not all hazards can be identified without first visiting the physical environment.
Other key risks of home healthcare work also entail accidents and challenges (auto issues) while traveling to the client’s home, which can take up a significant portion of the employee’s time and present serious safety hazards along the way.
The emotional toll
Another significant risk is stress and psychological damage from the hazards mentioned, particularly violence and harassment from clients. Due to the high-risk levels of violence and assault, emotional stress and burnout in healthcare workers are prevalent in this industry. When working alone, it is essential to feel supported and connected with not only mental health being impacted but also job performance. Communication technologies like lone worker apps can help maintain connection and necessary emotional support with home healthcare workers, reducing the likelihood of burnout.
Features of lone worker apps that enhance safety
To address and effectively manage these occupational risks, lone worker apps provide features that the worker can easily access and use in the client’s home. The first important feature is GPS tracking, which provides real-time location updates to dispatch help to the proper location in an emergency quickly. Another critical feature is an automated check-in system, which monitors activity and alerts the employer if the employee has not checked in, confirming their safety. Lone worker apps can provide motion features and automatic alerts if the worker has fallen or is immobile and unconscious. Likewise, they should offer reliable channels for communication and immediate emergency alerts for help, like a panic button.
Benefits of lone worker apps in home healthcare
When employing a lone worker app and these safety features regularly, home healthcare workers will benefit in several significant ways including:
Peace of mind knowing help is always accessible.
Reduced feelings of isolation and stress.
Confidence to handle challenging and intimidating situations.
Likewise, the employer will also benefit in ways such as:
Improved compliance with safety regulations.
Enhanced worker productivity and retention.
Cost-effective solutions for managing remote, mobile teams.
Addressing organizational challenges
A significant benefit of lone worker safety apps is that they address the logistical challenges of monitoring dispersed, mobile healthcare teams in different, remote locations. From an onboarding and cost-effectiveness standpoint, lone worker safety apps are highly effective and scalable occupational safety tools for home healthcare work and service provision.
Empowering home healthcare workers
Prioritizing home healthcare safety is more important now than ever. People in this industry must not be afraid to go to work. People in this industry must not be scared to work alone in these work environments. Lone worker safety apps bridge the gap between that isolation and safety – a source of help when they need it. Home healthcare workers are also not powerless and can speak up when they feel unsafe. Healthcare workers can take their occupational safety into their own hands by providing advanced safety technologies like lone worker safety apps.