Healthcare employees’ work-related victimization and use of preventive measures

Abstract

Work-related victimization affects 14.6 per 10,000 employees in the United States annually. Little is known about work-related victimization in healthcare or the preventive measures taken by employees and employers. A secondary analysis was conducted of the Workplace Risk Supplement (WRS) data from 4,213 healthcare employees. Mental health field employees reported a significantly higher percentage of being victimized while at work, worrying about victimization, having knowledge of rules or guidelines addressing workplace violence, and receiving education/ information on workplace violence compared to medical field respondents. Implications for hospital administrators based on study results are presented.