Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Incidents of Workplace Violence Events as Reported in Patient Safety Event Reports

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Workplace violence (WPV) committed against frontline health care workers is a worldwide concern but relatively little is known about relative rates of reported WPV events as identified through patient safety event (PSE) reports before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study sought to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic changed the rates and characteristics of reported WPV events committed by patients against health care workers, as captured in the PSE report system for a Mid-Atlantic health care system. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study analyzed voluntary self-reported PSE reports from March 1, 2018 to February 28, 2022. We analyzed reports in 2 equal periods-pre-pandemic (March 2018-February 2020) and during the pandemic (March 2020-February 2022) -focusing on WPV incidents. Data included event types, reporting locations, staff roles, and resolution strategies, comparing pre- and during-pandemic trends. RESULTS: We identified differences in WPV PSE reports pre-pandemic versus during the pandemic. During the pandemic, there were more reports involving disorderly individuals and fewer incidents of physical and verbal abuse compared to the pre-pandemic period. Resolutions during the pandemic often involved medication, patient restraint, de-escalation, and security intervention, with fewer reports from providers and nurses but more from other health care staff like security officers. CONCLUSION: PSE reports contain valuable information pertaining to the identification of system hazards such as WPV events. Analyzing such data provides important insights into how the COVID-19 pandemic affected WPV incidents recorded in PSE system and may also provide a helpful orientation for ongoing monitoring of such events within other health care systems nationwide.