Briefings on Accreditation and Quality, May 1, 2019
This is an excerpt from a member only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe to Briefings on Accreditation and Quality.
Amy Costigan, MD, wants to be able to practice emergency medicine without being punched in the face.
Healthcare staff carry a heavy workplace violence burden, with about 74% of workplace assaults occurring in the healthcare setting. Workplace violence is prevalent in the emergency department—78% of emergency physicians have reported being targets of workplace violence in the prior 12 months.
Costigan wrote about her workplace violence experience in Annals of Emergency Medicine. She had lost a young woman in cardiac arrest, then went to a family room to inform the woman’s mother. When she entered the room, the ER physician had a choice—sit in a chair near the door or sit on the couch next to the young woman’s mother. Costigan picked the couch.
This is an excerpt from a member only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe to Briefings on Accreditation and Quality.