Health Care Staff–Reported Workplace Violence in Patient Safety Event Reports

What insights can patient safety event (PSE) reports provide regarding the characteristics of health care workplace violence (WPV) incidents?In this cross-sectional study of 15 426 PSE reports, 831 WPV incidents were identified. Most incidents involved patient- or visitor-on-staff violence, primarily verbal harm, with nurses frequently affected; agitation and aggression were leading precipitating factors.These findings suggest that PSE reports offer an untapped rich source of information associated with WPV incidents that can guide targeted WPV intervention and prevention plans, ultimately enhancing the safety of frontline health care staff.

Corresponding Author: Azade Tabaie, PhD, Center for Biostatistics, Informatics and Data Science, MedStar Health Research Institute, 10980 Grantchester Way, Columbia, MD 21044 (azade.tabaie@medstar.net).

Link to the article in your story

We encourage you to link out to this article in your story using the link below. It includes an access token that will give free access to the article for your readers up to one year after publication. (The link will be live after the article publishes and embargo is lifted.)

Please see the article for additional information, including full author list, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

Need more information? Contact us.