The Healthcare Violence Project:
Seeking Solutions for a Safer Healthcare Environment
Our Mission
Healthcare and social service professions account for seventy-three percent of all non-fatal assaults in workplaces in the United States. Workplace violence in healthcare was long considered “just part of the job” but progress is being made in recognizing that it cannot be considered acceptable.
The Healthcare Violence Project was founded to provide a collaborative venue for academic research and the creation of evidence based strategies for reducing violence in healthcare.
Our People
Our faculty is composed of healthcare practitioners, academics, and violence prevention professionals who are brought together by their commitment to creating safer healthcare environments.
Our Projects
Our Board funds projects based on their potential to positively impact workplace violence reduction in healthcare.
On going and currently in development projects include:
The Healthcare Shootings Database
The Healthcare Shootings Database development project was initiated in 2019 with the goal to develop a comprehensive listing of known incidents involving a firearm being discharged at a person or people on the grounds of a healthcare facility in the United States in the interest of identify trends which can be utilized the help prevent future shootings. While it is still an ongoing project, to date the Healthcare Shootings Database has cataloged over 400 shootings which have occurred in US hospitals and other healthcare facilities between 2000 and 2024.
Currently under development, the Efficacy of Criminalizing Healthcare Violence project, aims to research the effect of recent legislative mandates in a number of states to reclassify violence against healthcare workers as a felony and provide guidance based on its findings to other states in developing healthcare violence prevention strategies.