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Abstract
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Health care workers are disproportionately at risk for workplace violence. They are 5 times more likely to experience violence at work than other workers, accounting for 73% of all nonfatal workplace injuries from violence. Attacks against health care workers are on the rise. A national survey of nurses found a 119% increase in nurses reporting worsening workplace violence between March 2021 and March 2022.1 This increase is part of a broader trend of rising violence against health care workers over the last decade. This Viewpoint seeks to understand the current legislative responses at the state level to this outburst of deadly violence and analyze how the law is adapting to protect health care personnel.
The dangers of violence perpetrated against health care workers are evident in the past year. In August 2023, a shooting left one security guard dead and another health care worker injured at the Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center in Portland, Oregon.2 The perpetrator was there to see his partner's newborn.2 Minutes before the shooting started, someone at the hospital called the police to report that the man in question had been threatening staffers.2 In response to the shooting, the hospital saw to the addition of metal detectors, bag searches, bullet-slowing glass, and security officers with stun guns.2 However, some hospital employees remain skeptical that these increased security measures will be permanently maintained in the face of the costs involved.2
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is a federal agency that conducts research and offers recommendations regarding workplace safety. The agency maintains a classification system for workplace violence that breaks down into 4 types. Type 1 violence comprises criminal attacks committed by someone with no connection to the workplace. Type 2 is violence in a workplace perpetrated by customers or clients. Type 3 is violence perpetrated by workers against coworkers. Type 4 is violence that stems from a personal relationship outside of work that then transpires at the workplace. Attacks on health care workers usually fall into the first 2 categories under the NIOSH classification in that the attackers are often individuals with no relationship to the hospital or they are patients or family members who become violent while receiving services.
Language: en |