Why Violence in Hospitals is Increasing

Why Violence in Hospitals is Increasing

Violence is not a concept that people usually associate with hospitals.  For years, hospitals have been seen as almost a sanctuary of care for the sick and wounded in our society.   However, the perception of hospitals has been changing over the last fifteen years due to a variety of factors.

1. Doctors are no longer thought of as “Gods”.  This means they are

   are more easily blamed when a patient’s condition deteriorates.

2. Hospitals are now regarded as businesses.  This perception has been

   been aggravated by television in shows like a recent “60 Minutes”, as well as       by the effects of the recession on jobs and the loss of health insurance.

3. Lack of respect and resources (funding) for hospital security departments Rather than being seen as a crucial protection for the hospital staff and

   patients, many security departments are chronically underfunded and used

   for a variety of non- security functions, such as making bank deposits for

   the hospital gift shop.

4. ASIS Security Association issued it’s industry guidelines for Workplace Violence Prevention in September 2011, in conjunction with the SHRM – the      Society for Human Resources Management to address this issue.The federal government   issued a guidance document for dealing with violence issues in healthcare,   OSHA 3148.01R, 2004, Guidelines for Preventing Workplace Violence for Health Care & Social Service Workers.