The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.<\/p>\n
Nurse Crystal Dhooghe is used to dealing with blood and broken bones in the emergency room. But she didn\u2019t expect to witness so much violence against her own colleagues.<\/p>\n
This story also ran on NPR. It can be republished for free.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen nurses get shoved, pushed, scratched. The biggest one is bitten,\u201d said Dhooghe, who works at Henry Ford Genesys Hospital in Grand Blanc, Michigan.<\/p>\n
The prevalence of workplace violence in healthcare has fueled strikes in states such as Louisiana, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Michigan, where Dhooghe and many of her co-workers have been on the picket line since Labor Day last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople will question me and be like, \u2018Why are you still working in a place if you\u2019re treated like this?\u2019\u201d said Dhooghe, who gets by on strike benefits and working extra shifts at another hospital. The problem, she said, is that other hospitals aren\u2019t any better. \u201cIt\u2019s the same everywhere I go.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement, Henry Ford Health spokesperson Dana Jay acknowledged violence against healthcare workers is a \u201cnational epidemic\u201d and said the health system\u2019s efforts to address the problem include metal detectors, armed security officers trained to make \u201cmisdemeanor arrests,\u201d and de-escalation training.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have zero tolerance for violence of any kind,\u201d said Jay, asserting the strike is not about safety but is instead \u201csimply an economic strike.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nationwide, hospital workers are seven times as likely to be injured on the job due to violent acts as members of the general working population, according to the most recent data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The outcry over workplace violence in healthcare is pitting workers\u2019 demands for better compensation and staffing against hospital operators pressured to cut costs.<\/p>\n
Violent outbursts are so common that they\u2019ve been dramatized on the popular medical TV series The Pitt. \u201cEmergency rooms right now are like a powder keg,\u201d said Rachel Odes, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing.<\/p>\n
In hospitals, a combative or violent patient is known as a \u201ccode gray.\u201d Outbursts can be spontaneous and unpredictable, making some almost impossible to prevent. But research shows the risk of violence increases when hospitals are understaffed or employees are insufficiently trained or experienced.<\/p>\n
Mental health worker Andrew Kimball-Mirzaie said he got hurt in February 2024 at Butler Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island.<\/p>\n
He\u2019d been working at the private psychiatric hospital for about six weeks and said he hadn\u2019t yet worked in the ER. He said he was sent there to \u201cmonitor\u201d a man in his 20s who was waiting for an inpatient bed.<\/p>\n
The patient was alone in a back room watching a Knicks basketball game on TV, he recalled. Kimball-Mirzaie said he got the patient a drink and a snack. They were watching the game when, suddenly, he said, the patient stood up and punched him in the face. He said the assault left him with a concussion and broken nose. His injuries were documented in the hospital\u2019s incident log.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand that there is an inherent danger with the job,\u201d Kimball-Mirzaie said. He doesn\u2019t blame the patient, who was very ill at the time. \u201cWe should have had at least another staff member with us,\u201d he said, \u201cand I should have been adequately trained on the unit.\u201d<\/p>\n