In 2019, 20,870 workers in the private industry experienced trauma from workplace violence, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Of those employees, 70% worked in the healthcare and social service industries.
From 2020 to 2021, the IAHSS Foundation 2022 Crime Survey found the rate of hospital violent crime increased by 47%. Although there are exceptions, most patients or visitors are at hospitals for non-joyous occasions, making them more prone to feeling anxious. Add to the mix the collective trauma experienced by so many people in the last two-and-a-half years, and violent incidents are pouring into areas of hospitals that aren’t used to seeing it.
“[Incidents of workplace violence] used to be in behavioral health wards, emergency departments or actually pediatric intensive care is another one — where there are emotionally charged situations and people with very little patience — that’s where it would happen more frequently,” Susan Driscoll, president of the Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI), told Campus Safety. “But now it’s happening everywhere. Anywhere there is someone who has escalated emotions, combined with workers who are overworked and exhausted, and that may not be able to fully regulate their emotions, that’s sort of like a powder keg for a crisis moment.”
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Amy Rock Editorial, LLC 