Workplace Violence in Healthcare

Workplace violence occurs in every industry and field; however it is most prevalent in the healthcare environment. Healthcare workers face many obstacles in regards to violence. They are tasked with dealing with difficult patients, who are often at their lowest point. Healthcare staff must be able to identify escalating behaviors and know the proper interventions, to prevent or lessen the impact of potential violence behaviors. The first step in this process is learning what to look for and how it impacts the working and home lives of the healthcare workers. Violence in healthcare is broad; it can be attributed to patients, visitors and staff. Staff will need to have to be educated on how violence occurs, how to prevent it and how to cope with violence when it does occur. This paper will first focus on identify the many different areas of violence that occur ranging from: employee on employee violence, patient on employee violence and violence from outside sources such as active shooter situations. Second it will identify proven solutions for dealing with violence, how to prevent it or lessen the impact. Last it will give recommendations and best practices from creditable sources; that can be used to create a safer care environment