Hospitals should be a safe space for care and healing. However, as verbal and physical violence in health care settings continues to rise, it's more important than ever to foster environments that help hospital teams help you.
The Reality of Workplace Violence in Health Care
- Health care workers are five times more likely to experience workplace violence than workers in other industries.
- Verbal abuse, physical threats and aggressive behavior from patients or visitors can compromise care and morale.
- Safety affects staff well-being, patient outcomes and community trust.
Every person who enters a hospital — whether caregiver, patient or visitor — should understand the expectations for behavior in care settings. Being hospitalized or having a loved one in the hospital can be stressful, and it’s OK to be anxious. However, the following behaviors are never acceptable.
- Spitting, shoving, kicking, hitting, slapping, grabbing or improperly touching caregivers
- Shouting, cursing, threats and other forms of verbal abuse toward members of your care team or other hospital staff
Here’s how you can help caregivers help you.
- Ask questions about your care, especially if you don’t understand something. Open, respectful dialogue between patients and caregivers is important.
- Share your feedback. Feedback helps health care facilities and caregivers improve.
A Shared Responsibility
Hospitals are here for you 24-7-365. Your care team's top priority is caring for you (or your loved one), and abuse – physical or verbal – is disruptive to care. Safety is a collective effort. Let’s work together to make all care settings places of mutual respect and healing.