MU Health Care sees violence against health care workers ‘level off’ after implementing preventative programs

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

MU Health Care's Chief Operating Officer Tonya Johnson says violence against health care workers from patients increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, she claims it has leveled out after implementing preventative programs.

Conversations on the safety of health care workers following the highly publicized United Healthcare CEO shooting.

Following the shooting, Arrow Security has seen an increase in uncommon industries looking to implement more security systems for both high-ranking officials and general staff.

"I think there's more of a danger for certain industries, the decline of trust of institutions and corporations I think is on the rise," Arrow Security CEO AJ Caro said. "I think industries that are more prone to distrust, utilities, hospitals, insurers, things like that it doesn't have to be just health insurance."

While local health care officials say there isn't a major safety concern for top-ranking positions, the same may not be said for nurses or surgeons in the field daily.

According to the American College of Surgeons, CDC and American College of Emergency Physicians health care workers have been seeing a rise in workplace violence. In a ACEP 2022 survey, 85% of emergency physicians believe the rate of violence experienced in emergency rooms has increased. The CDC found that the rate of workplace harassment increased from 6% in 2018 to 13% in 2022.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics also found that despite making up fewer than 10% of total employment in the country, health care workers accounted for 73% of all nonfatal workplace injuries in 2018.

Additionally, the ACEP study reported that patients committed 98% of assaults committed against emergency physicians and three out of ten assaults were committed by family or friends of patients.

According to Johnson, the cause of patients having violent outbursts tends to be a mix of factors, like if a patient has had a history of violence.

"Certainly being in the hospital and the high anxiety and the decreased level of control is one of them, but there are certain medical and psychological illnesses that lend itself to violence" Johnson said. "Substance abuse is the number one underlying cause for violence."

To curb the violence, MU Health Care has implemented a workplace violence planning and control committee that follows how trends of violence occur, a behavioral emergency response team that who is trained on violence de-escalation, and weapons detection systems in MU Health Care facilities.

Additionally, the hospital also has trauma care and peer counseling for hospital staff.

"We really are targeted at making sure we have the safest environment, the most welcoming environment and the most healing environment for our patients," Johnson said. "That really means we have to fire on multiple prongs."

According to Missouri Nurses Association Executive Director Jill Kliethermes, workplace violence has been brought up as a primary issue in the organization within health care over the past three months.

Kliethermes said many reports of workplace violence that are filed with law enforcement sometimes are not pursued by prosecutors ,or judges don't act on the case.

"This under-reported epidemic has devastating results on the healthcare industry, studies show that workplace violence can affect the quality of care and care outcomes, contribute to the development of psychological conditions and reduce the RN's level of job satisfaction and organizational commitment," Kliethermes said in a statement.

Caro said with health care facility clients, he has noticed facilities that may be struggling with violent patient altercations tend to lack preventative measures.

"We just did an assessment this week for a large hospital chain and one of the CEO's biggest concerns was the lack of consistency and security and protocols that they have in place," Caro said. "They're growing, they're buying, hospitals are expanding, but their security is not evolving with that."