Strengthening the
Health Care Workforce

As you identify and assess violence prevention initiatives at your organization, consider the various roles, such as security leaders, clinical and administrative leads, patient advocates and community workers, which contribute to creating a culture of safety. Ensure that these roles are part of discussions to identify resources to improve safety, connections to existing programs and implementation of violence mitigation efforts. Workforce safety should be part of your organization’s overall safety program with the goal of creating a safe environment for all.

The Building a Safer Workplace and Community framework highlights the critical components for success in designing a violence mitigation strategy, including data collection, accountability, and training and education at all levels of the organization. The framework guides leaders through building a culture of safety, mitigating risk, violence intervention strategies and trauma support.

• Regularly inventory existing policies, practices and procedures, resources and violence prevention strategies. Check in with your team to understand how your organization engages the community you serve to support violence prevention efforts.
  • PODCAST
    FBI Violence Prevention Strategies to Assess and Manage Threats Against Health Care Since 2020 the health care workforce has faced a sharp increase in workplace violence. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has found that health care workers are five times more likely than any other type of worker to be physically attacked on the job. In this conversation, Karie Gibson, Psy.D., unit chief of one of the FBI’s five Behavioral Analysis Units, discusses the meaning of behavioral threat assessments and how it applies to the threat of violence against hospitals and health care teams.
  • ISSUE BRIEF
    The HAV issue brief on Providing Trauma Support to Your Workforce Following an Incident or Threat of Violence examines trauma support for hospital and health system team members. It was developed from discussions the HAV Advisory Group had with the Medical University of South Carolina’s National Mass Violence Victimization Resource Center (NMVVRC) team about the challenges and opportunities to provide trauma support to health care workers following an incident or threat of violence.
  • ISSUE BRIEF
    The HAV issue brief on Mitigating the Risk of Violence shares considerations when assessing potential risks, strategies to mitigating violence and insights on making the care environment safe.
  • ISSUE BRIEF
    The Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response’s issue brief on The Impact on Civil Unrest and Workplace Violence in Healthcare highlights strategies and guidance health care staff and security partners can incorporate into their coordinated workplace violence plans.
  • GUIDE
    The Occupational Safety and Health Administration published Guidelines for Preventing Workplace Violence for Healthcare and Social Service Workers to support workplace violence prevention programs that engage health care workers.
• Identify sources of data, quantitative and qualitative, that accurately reflect the type of violence your workforce is experiencing, including reporting systems for documenting violent incidents in the workplace.
  • AHA RESOURCES
    ASHRM Health Care Facility Workplace Violence Risk Assessment Tool
    Violence in the workplace continues to be an area that risk managers need to be proactively preparing their organizations to prevent.

• Ensure leadership accountability. In addition to assigning a leader to sponsor workplace safety initiatives, create accountability measures for all leaders. Share the measures with staff and consistently report out successes and challenges. Encourage reporting through organizational expectation that violence is not tolerated.
  • REPORT
    The Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association’s guidance on Developing Healthcare Safety & Violence Prevention Programs within Hospitals provides an understanding of the current best practices being used across Massachusetts hospitals with the goal of providing a framework for an effective health care violence prevention program.
• Create a threat assessment team as part of your workplace violence prevention program. Threat assessment teams are interdisciplinary, which may include clinical, security and administrative staff, and they are charged with determining necessary steps to mitigate threats.
  • TOOLKIT
    IAHSS Strategies to Mitigate Violence in Healthcare – This resource focuses on threat assessment as a tool for prevention and mitigation.
• Ensure ongoing education and training programs, including simulation training at regular intervals.
  • PODCAST
    De-escalating Workplace Violence in Behavioral Health Settings shares how leadership worked to improve the physical environment, engaged clinical staff, increased de-escalation training, decreasing reported workplace violence.
• Ensure ongoing investment and resources to support the work.
  • PODCAST
    Combating Workplace Violence In Health Care by Creating Safer Workplaces shares more about the collaboration, resources and what steps leaders can take to create safety in the workplace.
  • TOOLKIT
    Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health System – Workplace Violence Prevention Toolkit This comprehensive toolkit helps health care leadership, violence prevention committees and other stakeholders evaluate existing workplace violence programs and individual violence prevention practices at their facility or within their organization, against current best practices in violence prevention.

• Cultivate collaboration. Successful workplace violence prevention programs require interdisciplinary teams.
  • GUIDE
    Creating Safer Workplaces – a guide to mitigating violence in health care settings, a collaboration between AHA and the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety (IAHSS) to recommend action steps for hospital leaders.
  • TOOLKIT
    Tennessee Hospital Association’s Developing a Workplace Violence Prevention Program – A Guide for Hospitals provides tools and resources to establish and/or strengthen a hospital’s workplace violence prevention program.
• Create awareness, share stories and stand against violence.
  • CASE STUDIES: AHA MEMBERS IN ACTION
    Grady Health System – Managing Workplace Safety and Reducing Workplace Violence – a case study and webinar on shares strategies on reducing workplace violence and promoting a culture of safety.
    King’s Daughters’ Hospital Active Shooter Protocol - an emergency department shooting reveals strengths and areas of improvement.
• Enable pathways to identify physical and non-physical trauma, as well as avoid re-traumatization.
  • WEBINAR
    Caring for the Caregiver – Supporting a Healthy and Resilient Workforce - a program created to provide 24-hour-care to health care workers experiencing a stressful event or outcome during patient care or due to the work environment.
  • PODCAST
    Trauma and Trauma-informed Care - Dr. Glenn N. Saxe, director of the NYU Center for Child Welfare Practice Innovation, talks about a treatment for the impact of trauma, called trauma-informed care, and opportunities for hospitals to lead in improving access to this important type of behavioral health treatment.
  • DIGITAL CAMPAIGN
    #HAVhope Friday – National Day of Awareness is a social media and digital campaign to create awareness and share what hospitals and health systems are doing to keep their workforce safe.

Leaders from the C-suite to the board room are at the center of creating a safe workplace.

• Create opportunities for organizational governance to regularly receive updates on violence prevention efforts.
• Identify educational opportunities and learn from peers.
• Workplace violence is often underreported, leaders must clearly articulate the expectation that violence - in any form - is not tolerated.
  • EDITORIAL
    Supporting the Health Care Workers Who Support All of Us shares the sentiment that health care workers are the key to compassionate and quality care and that we must protect our workforce from violence and intimidation.
  • REPORT
    International Hospital Federation’s Violence Against People in Hospitals - this guide describes what measures exist to prevent and face acts of violence within health care organizations.
  • WEBINAR
    Partnering with Law Enforcement provides practical steps and scenario-based examples on how to create an effective relationship with law enforcement.

AHA’s Hospitals Against Violence
AHA’s Workforce and Workplace Violence Prevention Resources
#HAVhope Friday: National Day of Awareness Resources