Targeted violence in healthcare occurs when care teams, patients and facilities are intentionally singled out and subjected to harmful acts such as physical and verbal assaults, harassment and large-scale attacks, according to an Oct. 22 news release from the AHA.
In a recent Emergency Nurses Association survey of nearly 500 members, 56% of respondents said they had been physically or verbally assaulted or faced threats of violence in the 30 days prior.
Here are four things to know about recent news regarding healthcare targeted violence:
- The AHA and FBI resources are available in an issue brief that covers threat assessment, management and identification as well as on a dedicated webpage.
- The AHA and FBI guidance provides actionable steps for hospitals and health systems to help identify ways to improve the workplace environment and implement or enhance existing efforts risk assessment and mitigation measures
- The AHA’s Hospitals Against Violence advisory group released guidelines on community-based violence interventions Oct. 15.
- Implementing reporting tools and strategies such as quick-scan codes on walls and badges increased reporting of workplace violence from emergency nurses by 1,080% in two months at an unnamed academic medical center, according to a recent study.
