A new public service announcement by the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association (VHHA) asks patients to behave appropriately while receiving treatment or otherwise in healthcare settings. It was released amid rising workplace violence for health workers in hospitals.
The VHHA press release explains the “Help Us, Help You” campaign “draws attention to the heightened risk of workplace violence faced by health care professionals.”
VHHA explained health care workers are now “five times more likely to experience workplace violence injury compared to workers in other industries,” and the group says, “Data also suggests instances of workplace violence against health care professionals are rising.”
The full video includes excerpts from interviews with Virginia nurses who alluded to the aggressively antisocial behavior they now see in hospitals throughout the commonwealth.
“Shouting, cursing, threats, and other forms of formal abuse towards staff is not appropriate in a hospital,” said one nurse. A second added, “Neither is spitting, shoving, kicking, hitting, slapping, grabbing, and improperly touching caregivers.”
A third nurse stressed, “Physically assaulting or verbally threatening healthcare providers doing their job is against the law in Virginia.”
VHHA CEO Sean Connaughton said in a statement that it is “imperative” for visitors to Virginia’s hospitals to behave appropriately.
“That is the best way to ensure all patients have access to timely medical care, which can be disrupted when people berate, threaten to harm, or physically assault health care providers,” said Connaughton. “So, our message to the public is clear: please behave respectfully and appropriately in the presence of health care professionals performing their jobs.”
Julian Walker, vice president of communications for VHHA, told The Virginia Star the issue is likely under reported.
“We work with hospitals and their staff around Virginia, and there are plenty of nurses, unfortunately,” Walker explained, “who might get smacked, pushed,” or otherwise attacked but “have come to expect that as part of the process of doing their job.”
As a result of the violence, Walker said some hospitals have stepped up security, and that most patients should have little reason to worry as a result.
“Hospitals are places of healing and wellness and safety,” Walker told The Star. “There are hospitals now, in Virginia and elsewhere, who are taking enhanced safety and security measures” that include signage banning weapons and safety screening areas.
“People should not refrain from visiting a healthcare provider,” said Walker. “They should also know that steps are being taken” to keep hospitals orderly.
The “Help Us, Help You” campaign previously released videos with interviews detailing violence experienced by three healthcare professionals located throughout Virginia.
A male nurse from Northern Virginia explained what happened when he was called to help a pregnant colleague calm a patient.
“I try to calm him down, I try to fix the situation,” he said in the June 2023 VHHA video. The nurse continued, “He punches me in the face, knocks my glasses off, we wrestle to the floor. Then there on the floor with him, I’m covered in blood, I’m trying everything I can to get on top of him and get control of the situation, [but] he kept screaming he was going to kill me.”
Walker told The Star the public awareness campaign is only one part of VHHA’s efforts, with the organization assisting with efforts to pass legislation at both the General Assembly and U.S. Congress targeting violence in hospitals.
“VHHA and hospital members have worked with the Virginia General Assembly in recent years to strengthen protections for health care professionals performing their jobs,” the organization noted in its press release.
In Virginia, the group notes it is now a class 1 misdemeanor to threaten to kill or harm health care professionals who are providing care, and at the federal level, the U.S. Congress is considering the Safety from Violence for Healthcare Employees (SAVE) Act.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Image “Help Us Help You” by Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association.
