Healthcare Leadership Strategies to Prevent Workplace Violence

In healthcare, safety often focuses on the patient, ensuring they are well cared for, comfortable, protected, and that their information is kept private. But for many healthcare professionals, “Will I be harmed at work today?” is a question that they’re frequently left asking.

Violence in healthcare has become a crisis — one that leadership can’t afford to ignore. In fact, in 2022, nearly 17,000 hospital workers experienced nonfatal injuries or illnesses related to workplace violence that were serious enough to require time off, according to the American Hospital Association.

Despite the persistent problem of workplace violence, responses remain fragmented and reactive. Many organizations are trapped in cycles of underreporting, cultural normalization, budget constraints, and siloed solutions.

It’s time for a reset.

Understanding the healthcare workplace violence crisis

Today’s healthcare workers are experiencing workplace violence five times more than those in other industries. In 2024, according to the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP),  91% of emergency physicians indicated that they or a colleague had been threatened or attacked in the past year. In 2023, National Nurses United found that over 80% of nurses experienced workplace violence within the previous twelve months.

What’s increasingly worrying is that these incidents are often underreported, dismissed, or simply tolerated — and they shouldn’t be. Whether due to stigma or fear of repercussions, many healthcare workers choose not to report incidents, resulting in a misalignment between data and reality.

This culture of tolerance is dangerous and can have detrimental effects on healthcare staff. According to AMN Healthcare’s 2025 Survey of Registered Nurses, only 39% of nurses say they plan to continue working in their current roles and organizations, mainly due to the fact that 58% feel burned out, an outcome of consistently working in high-stress or violent environments.

As healthcare leaders seek to improve retention, satisfaction, and care quality, they need to ensure their staff feel safe and supported, physically and emotionally.

Resetting safety prioritization and execution

Healthcare organizations that truly want to foster safe environments must prioritize workplace violence prevention as a strategic pillar of the organization’s overall safety plans, with leadership driving the initiative.

A reset starts with recognizing that workplace violence impacts financial performance, workforce stability, and patient trust.

Leaders must:

• Acknowledge the reality of the crisis without minimizing it. Understanding what is happening within the organization, setting up frameworks and goals to address issues, and communicating transparently with staff are key steps. Sharing how the organization addresses these incidents will show healthcare workers that their safety is being taken seriously and that the organization is committed to staff feedback and engagement.
• Allocate meaningful resources to prevention and response. Layered safety plans are essential in the healthcare industry. Because training, reporting, and technology often are siloed from one another, it’s important that healthcare leaders are able to create programs where these aspects are intertwined. In doing so, they are not only able to see the full picture of how their staff are feeling about their safety, but also give them the tools to protect themselves.
  
• Encourage transparent reporting without fear of retaliation. Underreporting is a significant issue because healthcare workers don’t want to face repercussions, or worse, termination. Healthcare leaders need to ensure accessible methods for staff to report incidents of violence, and should help them feel empowered, not threatened, when they need to document an incident. They can also reinforce zero-tolerance policies within facilities, and ensure those exposed to violence are given the help and resources they need to feel supported.

Introducing a layered, proactive approach to safety

There is no one-size-fits-all solution for workplace violence prevention. Effective programs must take multi-pronged approaches that combine policy, culture, environment, and technology. The key is ensuring each element reinforces the others. Here are a few things for healthcare leaders to consider:

• Design safer environments: Implementing physical and environmental modifications, such as secure entrances, controlled access to high-risk areas, weapons detection, and improved lighting, can all help promote safety immediately.

• Offer hands-on staff training: Providing regular, scenario-based instruction on de-escalation, conflict resolution, and situational awareness can prepare staff for any kind of encounter. It can also be effective to train interdisciplinary teams, such as clinical staff, security guards, behavioral health clinicians, and HR leaders, to respond swiftly and conduct post-incident reviews.

• Align and enforce safety policies: Always clearly communicate safety protocols, define escalation procedures, and ensure staff understand their roles and responsibilities. Everyone must be on the same page in order to achieve measurable results.

• Equip staff with safety tools and utilize their data for continuous improvement: Deploying real-time communication tools, such as wearable duress buttons, that enable immediate calls to 911 or on-site security can be the difference between a major conflict and a de-escalated one. Additionally, data analytics from these tools and staff feedback can track trends, measure effectiveness, and help adapt safety strategies in real-time.

Healthcare leaders must address workplace violence more urgently than ever before. Workers deserve environments that protect their well-being, and patients deserve care from professionals who aren’t operating in fear.

The industry cannot solve this problem without resetting how safety is prioritized. Healthcare leaders must treat staff safety as a core priority, as they would patient satisfaction or financial stability. In doing so, they will foster an environment not just of safety but also of trust and committed healthcare professionals.

Photo: sturti, Getty Images

Andrea Greco is the SVP of Healthcare Safety at CENTEGIX. She’s spent decades partnering with customers to deliver solutions that focus on employee, patient, and family satisfaction and engagement. Her current role is focused on the creation and deployment of innovative, layered safety solutions that empower and protect healthcare organizations every day.

This post appears through the MedCity Influencers program. Anyone can publish their perspective on business and innovation in healthcare on MedCity News through MedCity Influencers. Click here to find out how.