Drawing on 25 years of nursing experience, Kim Baker, D.N.P., is helping UPMC advance strategies that support employee safety, reduce workplace violence and build safer care environments for patients and visitors.
For Baker, workplace safety is more than a professional focus. It’s personal, grounded by years of experience caring for patients and supporting fellow clinicians.
Key Takeaways:
- • Kim Baker, D.N.P., is UPMC’s workplace safety clinical manager, drawing on 25 years of nursing experience, much of it in behavioral health and substance use care.
- • Baker partners with clinical, operational, safety and security teams across UPMC to reduce workplace violence, improve safety protocols and support staff after safety events.
- • UPMC’s Culture of Safety Survey, an annual employee survey, showed a seven-point overall increase in employees reporting they feel safe at work compared with the previous year. This is a sign of progress as teams across the organization continue to advance this important work.
Frontline Experiences Become Systemwide Solutions
As UPMC’s workplace safety clinical manager, Baker partners with colleagues across disciplines to develop strategies that produce safe health care environments.
Her work includes reducing workplace violence, improving safety protocols, supporting staff after safety events and advancing proactive training and prevention efforts.
National organizations including OSHA and The Joint Commission have identified workplace violence as a growing challenge for health care workers across the country. Incidents can range from verbal threats and intimidation to physical aggression and assault directed at health care workers while they are providing care.
“One of the simplest ways to describe my role is that I help keep our staff safe while they care for patients,” Baker said.
Baker brings a unique perspective to the role — most of her nursing career has been focused on behavioral health and substance use care. This experience shaped the way she thinks about safety, communication, prevention and the complex needs that can influence patient behavior.
Why Prevention Starts With Understanding Patient Needs
Early in her career, Baker said workplace violence was too often viewed as an expected part of working in health care — especially in behavioral health settings. Her view is clear: it should never be accepted as simply “part of the job.”
“Keeping myself safe was my top priority, and now I feel responsible to help my co-workers prioritize in the same way,” she said.
Her behavioral health background also allows her to look beyond the behavior itself and consider what may be driving it. Fear, confusion, delirium, pain, hunger, withdrawal symptoms and other unmet needs can all influence how a patient responds in a stressful moment. By working with clinical teams to better recognize those factors, Baker is devoted to strengthening prevention strategies and supporting safer responses.
That focus became a central part of Baker’s doctoral work. While serving as a programmatic nurse specialist, she saw firsthand the challenges acute medical teams faced when responding to complex safety situations. As she supported colleagues through these events, she recognized an opportunity to create long-term, sustainable solutions.
“I knew that if I focused my education on workplace violence mitigation, I would be able to develop lasting strategies that could positively impact health care work environments,” Baker said.
Building a Legacy for Workplace Safety
Today, that work continues on a broader scale. Baker collaborates with clinical, operational, safety and security teams across UPMC to identify opportunities, support staff and build programs to reduce workplace violence and improve workplace safety.
“I want to be part of the solution where we are listening to ideas, implementing initiatives and then sustaining new approaches to keep our employees and patients safe,” she said. “If there are programs in place that I contributed to developing, long after I am gone, I will consider that a success. This is my legacy.”
One of the most meaningful parts of the role so far, Baker said, has been visiting different hospitals, meeting clinical teams and learning more about the unique safety challenges and successful initiatives taking shape across UPMC.
Those conversations reinforce what she sees every day: workplace safety is a shared responsibility, and progress depends on the expertise and commitment of many teams working together.
Creating Safer Environments Across UPMC
UPMC’s workplace safety efforts reflect a commitment to caring for the people who care for others. By investing in prevention, education, teamwork and staff support, UPMC continues to strengthen environments where employees feel supported and patients receive high-quality care.
A recent UPMC Culture of Safety Survey, which is an annual employee survey that measures how well safety is ingrained in the culture at UPMC, showed a 7-point overall increase in employees reporting that they feel safe at work compared with the previous year. While there’s more work to do, this is a sign of progress as teams across the organization continue to advance this important work.
For Baker, her goal is to ensure that safety initiatives are not only implemented, but that they last — becoming part of the culture for years to come.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What does UPMC’s workplace safety clinical manager do?
A: UPMC’s workplace safety clinical manager partners with clinical, operational, safety and security teams to reduce workplace violence, improve safety protocols, support staff after safety events and advance training and prevention efforts.
Q: Why does Kim Baker’s background in behavioral health nursing matter for workplace safety?
A: Baker’s 25 years of nursing experience, much of it in behavioral health and substance use care, shaped how she approaches safety, communication and prevention, including recognizing unmet needs such as fear, pain or withdrawal symptoms that can influence patient behavior.
Q: What progress has UPMC made in improving employees’ sense of safety?
A: UPMC’s Culture of Safety Survey, an annual employee survey, showed a seven-point overall increase in employees reporting they feel safe at work compared with the previous year. Multidisciplinary work continues to advance safety and security improvements across UPMC’s hospitals, outpatient and ambulatory sites and in-home care settings.
Learn More About Workplace Safety at UPMC
Kim Baker has an integral role in advancing workplace safety across UPMC, partnering with teams throughout the organization to strengthen prevention, response and support efforts.
Read “Standing Together for Safety: How UPMC’s People and Teams Are Enhancing Safety for All” to learn more about how UPMC teams are working together to create safer environments for employees, patients and visitors.
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