In 2002, the World Health Organization declared workplace violence to be a global epidemic with a negative impact on the retention of health personnel and delivery of health care. 1 The violence also results in significant economic, personal, and professional costs. 1 , 2 , 3 In the United States, the prevalence of workplace violence in the health care industry is 4 times higher than in other private industries. 4 Ease of public access, crowding, long wait times, presence of weapons, and other factors make the emergency department a highly vulnerable area, 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 especially where triage occurs. 10 , 11 Emergency nurses and other ED staff are at serious occupational risk of experiencing workplace violence, including verbal and physical assaults. 5 , 6 , 7 For these reasons, workplace violence has been recognized in many states as a violent crime. 12 Yet, at the time of this publication, only about 30 states have adopted laws that make it a felony to assault a registered nurse. 13 Other ongoing legislative initiatives include the introduction of the “HR 1309: Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act” in 2019 and continued advocacy and evaluation of state-based felony reforms.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 0099-1767 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jen.2020.01.005 ID - ref1 ER -