Introduction: Violence in health care settings, particularly directed toward healthcare workers, has received increasing attention in the United States. While health care-related violence has taken many forms, shootings have raised special concerns, given the number of potential victims and disruption to a community’s essential health infrastructure. However, there is limited evidence on trends in hospital-based gun violence. To address this gap, we studied characteristics of US hospital-based shootings over two decades. Methods: A search of Nexis Uni was conducted for newspaper articles, newswires, web news articles, or magazines mentioning hospital-based shootings during the period from 2000 and 2019. The search strategy included the terms (“shooting” w/5 “healthcare” OR (“shooting” w/5 “health care”) OR (“shooting” w/5 “hospital”) OR (“shooting” w/5 “emergency room”) OR (“shooting” w/5 “ER”). Articles were screened for relevance, and data were subsequently extracted and categorized by two independent reviewers. Results: From 2000-2019, we identified 148 hospital-based shootings with 241 victims. Mean number of shootings increased from 3.4/year during 2000-2004 to 8.4/year during 2005-2009 rate ratio (RR): 2.5, 95% CI: 1.4, 4.3, to 11.2/year during 2010-2014 (RR: 1.3, 95% CI: 0.9, 2.0) but decreased to 6.6/year during 2015-2019 (RR: 0.6, 95% CI: 0.4, 0.9). An overwhelming majority (91%) of shooters were male, with a median age of 46. The most frequent motive was the spillover of social violence (22%). The majority (59%) of events involved a single victim, although 14% had 3 or more victims. Perpetrators were also most likely to be victims (35%), followed by hospital staff (26%). Conclusion: Hospital-based shootings remain a persistent threat, with the 2010-2014 period representing increased risk. While motives were varied, the spillover of social violence was seen with the greatest frequency. Most hospital shootings involved a single victim, but some events involved three or more victims. These findings can potentially inform prevention and mitigation strategies for hospital-based gun violence.
Rizer et al. (Sun,) studied this question.