AHA leader Richard Pollack urges the attorney general to support legislation that would support healthcare workers.
For medical professionals, being assaulted or intimidated can no longer be tolerated as “part of the job,” so Richard Pollack, president of the American Hospital Association (AHA), has asked for the federal government to step in.
Pollack sent a letter to U.S. attorney general Merrick Garland requesting his support for legislation to protect healthcare workers from the "unacceptable situation" of workplace violence.
He offered examples of what healthcare workers have dealt with. In Georgia, a patient grabbed a nurse by the wrist and kicked her in the ribs. In South Dakota, a patient threw a nurse against a wall and bit them. In New York, a medical student from Thailand was called "China Virus," kicked, and dragged to the ground.
Since the onset of the pandemic, violence against hospital employees has markedly increased—and there is no sign it is receding, with studies indicating that 44% of nurses report experiencing physical violence and 68% report experiencing verbal abuse during the pandemic, Pollack wrote.
Healthcare workers have worked tirelessly to provide care and treatment to patients throughout the pandemic—many to the detriment of their own mental and physical well-being. A 2021 survey on violence toward workers in emergency departments included the following key data points:
- Among all survey respondents, 80% reported at least one verbal assault in the prior year. Among emergency medicine resident physicians, 89% reported at least one verbal assault in the prior year.
- 70% of all survey respondents reported experiencing verbal assault multiple times.
- 63% of survey respondents reported feeling unsafe in the workplace.
- Among residents, 96% discussed workplace abuse only with a colleague or no one at all. None of the residents filed formal incident or police reports.
While verbal assault was the most common incident, the study also found that 34% of participants had also reported incidents of physical assault. However, only 20% proceeded to file formal reports. In cases where the violence was toward a resident physician, no formal reports were filed, study authors said.
To protect employees from violent incidents, the Inova Health system developed a rapid-response team to deescalate and contain altercations in their hospitals. With the Safety Always for Everyone (SAFE) team, when a worker feels unsafe in a situation, they call a special number to alert the team and they respond immediately. Once there, the SAFE team will de-escalate and gain control of the situation.
Healthcare workers experience both verbal and physical violence in their workplace, said Kathy Helak, MSN, BSN, RN, FACHE, CPPS, and Inova Health's assistant vice president for patient safety.
Verbal assaults consist of profanities, threats, or slurs towards the worker, she said. In physical assaults, workers are hit, kicked, punched, or even spit on.
Since the implementation of the SAFE team, there have been fewer incidents of violence and staff have felt safer.
"Over the last few years, we have really worked very hard at Inova, as part of our commitment to zero tolerance, to encourage our team members, regardless of the type of interaction, to speak up to report it," Helak said. "And we are engaging in improvement efforts to make sure that we have evidence-based approaches to preventing these types of situations from occurring and helping employees feel safe."
To raise awareness for the violence healthcare workers are experiencing, Nurses Against Violence have planned the United Nurses March for May 12. The peaceful protest will take place in Washington D.C., beginning at the Washington Monument.
"This march is for the healthcare worker that feels alone, silenced, and left behind," the organization said. "Incivility in nursing, including racism … has to be addressed, along with discrimination, poor morale, mental illness, addiction, and the rising suicide rates among nurses alone."
“Over the last few years, we have really worked very hard at Inova, as part of our commitment to zero tolerance, to encourage our team members, regardless of the type of interaction, to speak up to report it," Helak said. "And we are engaging in improvement efforts to make sure that we have evidence-based approaches to preventing these types of situations from occurring and helping employees feel safe.”
Kathy Helak, MSN, BSN, RN, FACHE, CPPS, assistant vice president for patient safety, Inova Health
Jasmyne Ray is the revenue cycle editor at HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Violence against hospital employees has increased since the start of the pandemic.
A 2021 survey found that 63% of respondent did not feel safe at work, and 70% reported experiencing verbal assault multiple times.
In the letter to the attorney general, AHA president Richard Pollack pleads with him to support legislation that would support healthcare workers.