Workplace Violence Common in Urban EDs

TOPLINE:

A new study has found that workplace violence (WPV) is common among healthcare workers in urban emergency departments (EDs), with 25% involving physical violence. Nurses and younger workers are at higher risk.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a cross-sectional study over 2 months in 2023 in the ED of a large urban academic safety net hospital in the United States.
• A total of 72 healthcare workers, including physicians and nurses, participated (72% women; 92% White).
• The primary outcome was the incidence of WPV per shift as reported in shift sheets, categorized on the basis of severity (types 1-5) and bias (gender/race/ethnicity); demographic factors associated with the likelihood of WPV and its impact were also explored.

TAKEAWAY:

• In 575 shift sheets, the staff reported 155 WPV incidents, including 77 (50%) verbal abuse incidents and 39 (25%) physical violence incidents; one incident occurred every 3.7 shifts.
• Sexist and racial bias occurred in 38 (25%) and 11 (7%) incidents, respectively; 32 (24%) events caused moderate to severe impact, contributing to stress and burnout.
• The risk for WPV was higher among nurses (odds ratio [OR], 3.1; 95% CI, 1.9-5.0) and healthcare workers up to 40 years of age (OR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.2-3.5); gender and race did not influence this risk.

IN PRACTICE:

“Participants reported experiencing WPV with alarming frequency. This may contribute to high rates of attrition and burnout of a skilled and highly trained workforce,” the authors wrote. “Biased WPV against HCWs [healthcare workers] and the personal impact of WPV on HCWs should be specifically studied as health care organizations work to retain their highly skilled workforce and support a more diverse and inclusive health care team,” they added.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Marla C. Doehring, MD, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, and was published online on November 5, 2024, in JAMA Network Open.

LIMITATIONS: 

Participation was voluntary and not all shift sheets were returned, which may have led to underreporting, particularly for shifts without incidents. Incomplete demographic data may have limited the analyses, which in turn may have affected the results. Subjective incident coding and the lack of a definition of WPV may have impacted the consistency of the findings. In addition, the limited diversity among healthcare workers and specific urban ED setting may have affected the generalizability of the findings.

DISCLOSURES:

The authors did not disclose any funding source or conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.