We're at a crossroads in healthcare safety. The current state of healthcare violence is stark: According to a NYT exposé, in the past year, 75% of critical care nurses reported experiencing workplace violence.
It's time to take a stand and make meaningful changes. There is a critical need for immediate and decisive action against the rising tide of violence in healthcare. To share insights and offer a roadmap for creating safer, more supportive environments for healthcare professionals, I recently spoke with renowned nursing leaders and experts for a Workplace Violence Prevention podcast. They include:
- Dr. Kate FitzPatrick, CNE/EVP of Jefferson Health
- Dr. Jeff Doucette, SVP and Chief Nursing Officer at Press Ganey
- Dr. Ryan Oglesby, 2023 Secretary & Treasurer and 2024 President-Elect for the Emergency Nurses Association
Two nurses are assaulted every hour in the U.S., according to Press Ganey data. As staggering as the statistics are, this is not a new reality. “I’m in a different organization nearly every day, and I hear from nurse after nurse after nurse that violence is ‘just part of the job,’” said Dr. Doucette. “It absolutely is not and should not be part of the job.” Dr. Doucette shared that due to vast underreporting, “the actual number of nurses being violently assaulted in the U.S. is closer to six an hour, not two.”
“This ‘part of the job’ mentality extends not only from patients and visitors to nurses but also between and among nurses,” said Dr. Oglesby. “Oftentimes, the abused becomes the abuser. When a violent incident goes unreported and is not addressed, feelings of frustration can quickly turn to hostility that can potentially lead to aggression toward our colleagues or others.”
Among seasoned nursing leaders, there is clear consensus on the need for operationalizing zero tolerance in healthcare. A zero-tolerance environment is one where everyone — from support staff to frontline workers to executive leaders — feels empowered to report all incidents of workplace violence.
Strategies to facilitate workplace violence reporting
Leaders can facilitate an environment where employees feel safe and empowered to report workplace violence incidents through the following multifaceted approach:
- Proactive Prevention: Provide tools and equipment for safety, and educate employees on de-escalation, violence recognition, and intervention techniques.
- Immediate Response to Incidents: Ensure leadership connects with affected employees as soon as possible after an event, offering resources and support to mitigate long-term effects.
- Zero-Tolerance Policy Implementation: Adopt and visibly enforce a zero-tolerance approach to workplace violence.
- Support in Legal Matters: Assist employees in contacting law enforcement, filing reports and pressing charges, if necessary, to reinforce the organization's commitment to employee safety.
- Empowering Employees Legally: Encourage healthcare providers to press charges when appropriate, sending a strong message of support and empowerment from the organization and its leadership.
Leadership response is absolutely vital in creating a meaningful zero-tolerance environment. Zero tolerance should be the baseline of where every facility starts. From there, there are a variety of proactive prevention measures that health systems can take.
“Aside from weapons detection, we’ve invested in personal duress alarms. So, all our nurses and many of our other clinicians are equipped with Commure Strongline,” said Dr. FitzPatrick of Jefferson Health. “Empowering staff with this proactive technology allows them to activate and get someone to them as quickly as possible — it’s been a true game changer. Jefferson was on the front end of refining this technology, and nurses helped inform what worked and what didn’t. This is one reason I feel it’s so effective at what it’s been designed to do.”
An investment in workplace safety that pays dividends
It’s not just a moral imperative to protect our workforce — it’s financially smart. Implementing proactive safety solutions is an upfront investment that pays dividends in the long run, according to Dr. Doucette. The cost of having just one employee assaulted and hospitalized is just the beginning, said Dr. Doucette. “Then [there’s] all of the liability that's associated with that, that cost associated with that, the mental health for not only the affected employee but the people who work with them,” he said.
Creating a zero-tolerance environment in healthcare settings is essential to combat the alarming rise in workplace violence, an issue that has profound effects on nurse well-being, patient care and organizational efficiency. With rising PTSD, anxiety, depression and burnout among healthcare workers — and an average loss of nine workdays per injured worker — organizations cannot afford to ignore this issue. Let's work together to ensure that our healthcare facilities are sanctuaries of healing, not just for patients but also for those who dedicate their lives to caring for them.
About the Author:
Dr. Jeanne Venella, DNP, MS, RN, Strategic Advisor and Chief Nursing Officer at Commure Strongline is a clinical authority in emerging healthcare technology. She has 25 years of leadership and clinical experience in adult and pediatric emergency nursing at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She is Adjunct Faculty at the Villanova University College of Nursing where she teaches doctoral candidates in nursing.
Sponsored by:
Commure Strongline is a wearable duress badge, purpose-built for healthcare, that empowers your team to call for help when they need it, de-escalating potentially violent situations. This award-winning, wearable solution is easily installed, comes with white glove service, and helps create a safer workplace through de-escalation and early intervention.
For more information, visit www.commure.com/solutions/strongline