Prevalence of Workplace Violence and Effects of De-escalation Training Among Hospitalists: A pilot study

Authors

Ishaan Gupta, Division of Hospital Medicine, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore, MarylandFollow
Shaker M. Eid, Division of Hospital Medicine, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland
Che Matthew Harris, Division of Hospital Medicine, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland
Regina Kauffman, Division of Hospital Medicine, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland
Catherine Washburn, Division of Hospital Medicine, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland
Amteshwar Singh, Division of Hospital Medicine, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland
Venkat P. Gundareddy, Division of Hospital Medicine, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland
Flora Kisuule, Division of Hospital Medicine, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland

Abstract

Introduction: Workplace violence (WPV) is increasing in healthcare and negatively impacts healthcare worker outcomes. De-escalation training for healthcare workers is recommended to reduce WPV from patients and visitors. Hospitalists may be at high risk for WPV, but the magnitude of WPV and the impact of de-escalation training among hospitalists is not known. Methods: We investigated the baseline prevalence of WPV experienced by 37 hospitalists at a single center. After an in-person de-escalation training, we measured hospitalists' self-reported "Confidence in Coping with Patient Aggression" using a validated scale (score range 10-110). Results: In the 12 months before de-escalation training, 86.5% of participants reported at least one form of WPV: 83.8% verbal abuse, 29.7% racial abuse, 18.9% physical violence, and 16.2% sexual abuse. The mean confidence score increased significantly from pre-training (43.2) to immediately after training (68.5) and remained significantly elevated at three months (57.2), six months (60.2), and after 12 months (59.9) (all P

Recommended Citation

Gupta, Ishaan; Eid, Shaker M.; Harris, Che Matthew; Kauffman, Regina; Washburn, Catherine; Singh, Amteshwar; Gundareddy, Venkat P.; and Kisuule, Flora (2023) "Prevalence of Workplace Violence and Effects of De-escalation Training Among Hospitalists: A pilot study," Journal of Community Hospital Internal Medicine Perspectives: Vol. 13: Iss. 3, Article 1.
DOI: 10.55729/2000-9666.1189
Available at: https://scholarlycommons.gbmc.org/jchimp/vol13/iss3/1