Workplace violence in healthcare: Development of an education program

Workplace violence is an all too common experience for healthcare providers today. So much so that it is severely underreported causing skewed statistics and limited data. Secondary to a law that was passed, hospitals in a Midwest state became required to develop policies and procedures that would keep their staff members safe from workplace violence. Furthermore, staff education was a requirement of this law, and it proved to increase the number of reported episodes. However, a post-implementation survey found that there was still room for improvement with regard to underreporting, and feeling confident in managing a violent patient.;Keywords: workplace violence, healthcare, underreporting, HF 1087, quality improvement.