No health care worker should fear for their life at work. It’s been over a decade, and I can still vividly recall being thrown into a wall by a patient’s son on an overnight ICU shift during residency. I’d like to say this was the only time, or a rare experience, but the reality is I’ve experienced workplace violence (WPV) my entire career. While pregnant in 2021, a patient pushed a nurse and me into nearby furniture while we were providing bedside care. Verbal abuse, racist and sexual remarks, threats, intimidation, and physical assaults are some forms of violence that health care workers experience every day.
The health care workforce across the U.S. is five times more likely to experience workplace violence compared to other industries. In 2018, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 73% of all nonfatal workplace violence-related injuries involved health care workers. This problem is disturbingly prevalent and historically underreported due to the belief that violence is “part of the job,” inadequate protective policies, an absent national reporting system, and the belief that violent offenders won’t face consequences.
Multiple high-profile incidents underscore the severity of the issue. In February 2025, a man armed with a weapon held hospital staff hostage in Pennsylvania. In Florida, Leela Lal, a nurse of over 20 years, was brutally assaulted by a psychiatric patient who was charged with attempted second-degree murder. In Chicago, an emergency medicine physician was stabbed inside a hospital ER. Health care workers face physical, verbal, and emotional abuse daily. These are not isolated incidents but part of a broader, disturbing trend of WPV.
While patient frustration with health care systems is often discussed, the mistreatment and incivility toward health care workers remain largely ignored. A 2024 survey revealed that 75% of nurses reported they experienced WPV in the past year. The most frequent types of WPV nurses experienced were verbal abuse, followed by threats and physical assault. A national survey reported that 60% of U.S. physicians have been subjected to offensive racist, sexist, and other bigoted verbal remarks from patients under their care. This violence is not limited to the U.S. — it’s a global issue. The COVID-19 pandemic also exacerbated the situation, with heightened frustration, fear, and mistrust creating volatile environments. When there is a constant threat of violence, health care professionals are more likely to suffer from anxiety, depression, and PTSD, and the psychological toll has been severe.
Addressing workplace violence is crucial not just for the safety of health care workers but critical for excellent patient care and patient safety. When health care professionals are subjected to violence, their ability to provide high-quality care is compromised. With growing staffing shortages, overcrowded facilities, and increasing patient demands, the pressure on health care workers is unsustainable.
Many health care institutions have established zero-tolerance policies and anti-WPV initiatives, poster campaigns, de-escalation training, installing metal detectors, enhanced security personnel and using the EMR to flag patients who are at risk for violence. Some states have enacted laws to protect health care workers — such as California’s recent law upgrading penalties for assaults on ED staff. However, a unified national response is critical to effect meaningful and lasting change.
Health care workers may be on the frontlines, but we are not soldiers, we have not been trained for combat. We are trained to help and to heal. Any place where health care workers are should be a place of comfort and hope, offering sanctuary to the sick, not an arena for violence. Protecting health care workers is essential to maintaining a resilient health care system. When we improve worker safety, we can improve the quality of care we provide to patients, recruitment and retention of clinicians, and well-being for all. We are the defenders of our nation’s health, and we should be protected from violence in the workplace. We also deserve accessible and tangible resources for mental and emotional support so that we can continue this vital work.
National Health Workforce Well-Being (HWWB) Day is celebrated annually on March 18th, coinciding with the anniversary of the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act. This landmark law highlights the mental health crisis facing health care workers and calls for meaningful solutions. As WPV reaches epidemic levels and compounds the mental health crisis, this law will help support health care workers on this battlefront.
National Health Workforce Well-Being Day serves as a crucial reminder — a day of awareness, advocacy, and involvement. Everyone, from policymakers, health care leaders, patients, and the public, can play a role in advocating for health care worker safety. No one should have to accept violence as part of their job. Contact your members of Congress and urge them to support the reauthorization of the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act, with a specific focus on workplace violence.
Together, we can create a cultural shift in health care settings — one that prioritizes worker safety as much as patient care. We can transform workplaces so that health professionals can focus on providing compassionate and respectful care to patients and saving lives, without violence, without fearing for their own lives.
What are your thoughts on how health care workers can get involved to prevent workplace violence? Share in the comments!
Dr. Gwendolyn R. Williams is a hospital medicine physician and associate professor of internal medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University Health in Richmond, VA, the President of the Society of Hospital Medicine Hampton Roads Chapter and an Ambassador for the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation. She is also an avid advocate for health care worker well-being and safety.
Illustration by April Brust
