Workplace violence is rising—and nurses are sounding the alarm
Press Ganey nursing experts Angela Pascale, Nicole George, Catima Potter, and Nora Warshawsky shed new light on the growing crisis of workplace violence in a new study published in Nurse Leader and powered by NDNQI® data. Their analysis reveals a steady increase in assaults on nursing personnel over the past five years, from just north of 14,000 in 2019 to nearly 24,000 in 2023, with registered nurses bearing the brunt of incidents, and psychiatric and emergency units facing the highest risk.
The data highlights persistent gaps in workplace safety across care settings and the limitations of existing interventions, particularly in under-resourced environments. As Warshawsky recently told Medscape, hospitals routinely inspect for fire and infection risks but often lack comprehensive safety assessments for staff. “We talk about zero harm for our patients,” she says, “but we also need to have a zero harm culture for our staff.”