Rebekah J. Ninan, I. Glenn Cohen & Eli Y. Adashi, State Approaches to Stopping Violence Against Health Care Workers, JAMA (Feb. 22, 2024).
Abstract: Health care workers are disproportionately at risk for workplace violence. They are 5 times more likely to experience violence at work than other workers, accounting for 73% of all nonfatal workplace injuries from violence. Attacks against health care workers are on the rise. A national survey of nurses found a 119% increase in nurses reporting worsening workplace violence between March 2021 and March 2022. This increase is part of a broader trend of rising violence against health care workers over the last decade. This Viewpoint seeks to understand the current legislative responses at the state level to this outburst of deadly violence and analyze how the law is adapting to protect health care personnel.