Mitigating healthcare workplace violence

Abstract

The high level of violence against healthcare workers represents is imperative for healthcare managers to promote a culture of safety, trust and quality patient care. The detailed, practical results of this qualitative exploratory case study provide actionable prevention strategies. The results align with healthcare managers’ perspectives, the challenges faced and the ways to mitigate them. A sample of 20 clinical and nonclinical healthcare workers divided into two groups participated in semi-structured interviews. The results indicated the importance of healthcare workers’ insights in developing robust mitigation strategies. The results also showed a gap in leaders’ focus on workplace safety and the benefit of improved policies and best practices. Four themes were identified, which showed that leaders could improve patient care and workplace violence mitigation strategies. Future research should conduct a deeper review of the quantitative aspects, such as how the frequency of occurrences between different roles and departments influences mitigation strategies, which could further benefit in mitigating the problem. This study provides actionable advice and lessons learned to help healthcare managers develop best practices. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at https://hstalks.com/business/.