Nursing Under Pressure: Workplace Violence in the Illinois Healthcare Industry

Among those in the healthcare industry, it is common knowledge that threats of violence ranging from verbal to physical to sexual abuse come with the territory. In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) healthcare and social assistance industries are “the most common sources of nonfatal injuries and illnesses requiring days away from work.” (Wolf et al, 2014, 305) Yet, there is surprising lack of data that reveals the rates of violence and how frontline workers, such as nurses, believe the industry should be responding. In this study of 276 Illinois nurses, we uncover that 90% of surveyed nurses experience at least one episode of workplace violence in a twelve month period with 50% of nurses experiencing six or more episodes of workplace violence in a year. This survey explores the depth of the violence and makes policy recommendations to work towards a more comprehensive set of workplace policies that could both lower workplace violence as well as improve employer responses to violence.