ENA, AONL Continue Commitment to Preventing Workplace Violence

Organizations launch updated workplace violence guidelines and toolkit to support health care workers

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. (Oct. 25, 2022) – Faced with the unfortunate reality that health care workers are five times more likely to experience nonfatal violence-related injuries on the job compared to those who work in private industries, the Emergency Nurses Association and the American Organization for Nursing Leadership have updated the Guiding Principles on Mitigating Violence in the Workplace and related toolkit that were originally penned in 2015.

A recent survey of nurses showed that 44 percent reported experiencing physical violence and 68 percent reported experiencing verbal abuse from February to June 2020. These statistics, along with the frequency of violent incidents in hospitals over the last few years, prompted the organizations to review and update the guidelines.

“Workplace violence in health care remains a pervasive problem that touches all areas of a hospital, sometimes in unbelievably tragic ways,” said ENA President Jenn Schmitz, MSN, EMT-P, CEN, CPEN, CNML, FNP-C, NE-BC. “The toolkit and these guiding principles show how important teamwork is to developing and implementing solutions that create a path to safer work environments with improved protective measures for emergency nurses, their health care colleagues and patients.”

This week, ENA CEO Nancy MacRae and AONL CEO Robyn Begley, who is also the American Hospital Association’s chief nursing officer, shared their thoughts on the urgent need to drive a culture change that views any violence towards health care workers as unacceptable.

MacRae and Begley also highlight what’s available in the updated guidelines and toolkit that help build an environment of safety.

You can find the updated guidelines and toolkit here.