Podcast 756: Violence Towards ED Staff

Contributor: Jared Scott, MD

Educational Pearls:

• ACEP survey was done in 2018 looking at violence towards staff in the ED with only 10% of those solicited responding
• Survey found 47% of respondents were assaulted and 71% had witnessed violence towards staff
• Regarding what was done about the violence, 28% said patients were flagged by the hospital, 21% said patient was arrested by police/hospital security, 6% of the cases resulted in the hospital pressing charges, and in 3% of cases the staff were advised to press charges
• Analyzing the type of violence that occurred, it was found that in 44% of the incidents staff were hit/slapped, 30% were spit on, 28% were punched, 27% were kicked, 17% were scratched, 6% were bitten, 2% were assaulted with a weapon, and 1% were sexually assaulted
• ED violence is a very serious matter and you can learn more about the survey and initiatives at the links below

References

https://www.acep.org/administration/violence-in-the-emergency-department-resources-for-a-safer-workplace/

https://www.emergencyphysicians.org/press-releases/2018/10-2-2018-violence-in-emergency-departments-is--increasing-harming-patients-new-research-finds

https://stopedviolence.org/

Summarized by John Spartz, MS4 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD

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