Trinity Health Supports Health Care Workforce Safety
July 10, 2022
Workplace violence is a serious problem in health care settings that has been on the rise in recent years, including a noticeable increase since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Front-line health care workers are dealing with physical and emotional stress, burnout, threats, violence and staff shortages. In a survey of registered nurses, 44% reported experiencing physical violence and 68% reported experiencing verbal abuse during the pandemic.1
At Trinity Health, our core values include safety. We aspire to leverage our skill, scale and learning to be the safest health care system in the nation. Trinity Health is employing a variety of strategies and tactics to combat escalating violence toward colleagues. Our efforts include standardized de-escalation training for all security professionals, a three-tiered workplace violence training program for patient-facing colleagues and embedding a risk scoring tool in our electronic medical record that will allow for identification of violent patients.
Congress can show support for health care workers by taking immediate action to pass the bipartisan Safety from Violence for Healthcare Employees (SAVE) Act (H.R. 7961). This legislation would make it a federal crime to assault or intimidate a hospital employee if it interferes with the ability of that employee to perform their duties. Ensuring a safe environment for our health care workforce is essential to building resilience and providing quality care to the patients and communities we serve.
Trinity Health has outlined additional policy recommendations to address violence against health care workers.
At Trinity Health, our core values include safety. We aspire to leverage our skill, scale and learning to be the safest health care system in the nation. Trinity Health is employing a variety of strategies and tactics to combat escalating violence toward colleagues. Our efforts include standardized de-escalation training for all security professionals, a three-tiered workplace violence training program for patient-facing colleagues and embedding a risk scoring tool in our electronic medical record that will allow for identification of violent patients.
Congress can show support for health care workers by taking immediate action to pass the bipartisan Safety from Violence for Healthcare Employees (SAVE) Act (H.R. 7961). This legislation would make it a federal crime to assault or intimidate a hospital employee if it interferes with the ability of that employee to perform their duties. Ensuring a safe environment for our health care workforce is essential to building resilience and providing quality care to the patients and communities we serve.
Trinity Health has outlined additional policy recommendations to address violence against health care workers.
1Byon HD, Sagherian K, Kim Y, Lipscomb J, Crandall M, Steege L. Nurses' Experience With Type II Workplace Violence and Underreporting During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Workplace Health Saf. 2021 Aug 3:21650799211031233.