As violence against healthcare workers surges, from verbal assaults to physical attacks, hospitals are confronting a grim reality, prevention isn't enough. Leaders must respond with urgency, compassion, and courage to protect their people, heal their teams, and hold perpetrators accountable.
Workplace violence isn’t just rising in healthcare, it’s becoming inescapable. Threats, verbal abuse, and physical attacks now cut across every setting, from outpatient clinics to hospital wards. And while prevention efforts remain essential, leaders increasingly recognize a harsh truth: violence will happen. What matters now is how organizations, and their CMOs, respond when it does.
Hospitals are moving into a new phase of preparedness. Systems are building rapid-response protocols, mobilizing mental-health and peer-support teams, pressing charges against violent offenders, and, when necessary, administratively discharging dangerous patients. This shift signals a new mandate for CMOs: protecting staff with the same urgency traditionally reserved for patient safety.
In our November cover story, CMO editor Chris Cheney unpacks this turning point and the bold steps health systems are taking to redefine their response:
- Why the inevitability of workplace violence is forcing CMOs to rethink crisis leadership
- How organizations are balancing patient rights with staff safety when patients become aggressors
- What true recovery looks like for clinicians who have been threatened, assaulted, or traumatized
This is a frontline transformation already underway and no longer just a theoretical shift. Because the next act of workplace violence is not a matter of if but when—and how your system responds may determine whether caregivers stay, heal, or walk away.
Read the full story here.
“Getting justice is often part of healing. Filing charges and prosecuting perpetrators shows our employees that their safety truly matters.”
Todd Walbridge, Senior Director of Safety and Security, Scripps Health
Amanda Norris is the Director of Content for HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
After a violent incident, healthcare organizations can’t wait for staff to seek help. Leaders must reach out immediately to ensure physical safety, emotional recovery, and long-term resilience.
When patients cross the line, care has limits. In cases of severe aggression or abuse, hospitals must be prepared to take decisive action, including administratively discharging violent patients to protect their teams.
Helping staff members press charges and navigate the legal process reinforces accountability and shows that violence against caregivers will not be tolerated.