Patient and Visitor-Associated Violence Toward Health Care Workers in a Children’s Health System

Reducing workplace violence in health care settings is a shared priority of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Joint Commission, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.^1–3  Violence toward pediatric health care workers is poorly described, and a broader understanding of violence can inform safety initiatives. Therefore, we aim to describe violence experienced by pediatric health care workers, including the trends over time, rates by setting, associated person(s), and forms of violence.

Using our electronic health record, we reviewed violent events from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2021 across our pediatric health system, which includes a 390-bed hospital with no associated psychiatric unit, 2 emergency departments (EDs), 3 urgent care locations, and outpatient clinics. Within the inpatient settings, a psychiatry and psychology consultation on request, and a behavior emergency response team (composed of a pharmacist, a hospitalist, a social worker, and security members) respond when a...