Four in 10 healthcare workers worry about safety regularly, survey finds

Many of those working in hospitals and health systems say they are worried about their safety.

More than a quarter say they worry about their safety at work at least once a week, while another 15% say they fear for their safety at least once a month, according to a survey of healthcare workers released Wednesday by Centegix.

Put another way, four in 10 healthcare workers say they are regularly concerned for their well-being.

In one of the most worrisome findings for healthcare organizations, a solid majority (61%) say their organizations aren’t demonstrating a high priority for workers’ well-being with their security efforts.

• Read more: Hospitals press Congress for tougher penalties for attacks on healthcare workers

Andrea Greco, a senior vice president for Centegix, said the survey results included responses from 639 individuals working in the healthcare industry. Centegix supplies security technology and tools to hospitals, health systems, schools, and government offices.

Greco tells Chief Healthcare Executive® that all the respondents work in roles where they interact with patients, families and visitors.

“That is a large amount, almost half of your workforce on a monthly basis, realizing the effects of workplace violence,” Greco says.

Nearly half of those surveyed (48%) say that their concerns about their safety are affecting their ability to deliver patient care. Looking at just those respondents working in hospitals, nearly two-thirds (63%) say their concerns for their safety are impeding patient care.

Employees who aren’t feeling safe at work are certainly likely to have less job satisfaction, Greco says. And she says patients are also able to detect if they’re in a safe environment, and may opt to seek treatment elsewhere.

“There's impacts all the way around, just from employee satisfaction, their own feeling of wellness and safety, to the patients,” Greco says. “And then, unfortunately, if you don't create that environment, there are financial impacts that happen to the healthcare system. Whether or not less patients come to you, you're not able to retain quality employees and/or recruit high-quality talent to your organization.”

Greco says those concerns tend to have an impact on patient satisfaction.

“Patients will pick up on whether or not it's a safe environment, …. and they may choose to go somewhere else that has a more safe environment, or one that they feel more safe in as well,” she says.

Over two-thirds (68%) of those surveyed say they have experienced at least one violent or threatening incident within the past year. Greco says such incidents include physical abuse, threats, and intimidating behavior.

“All of those things both have not only just physical impact, but certainly a mental and emotional impact on the caregiver themselves,” she says.

When asked what would make them feel safer, most of those surveyed (55%) said additional security personnel would be their top choice. A majority of women (59%) and men (52%) ranked security personnel as the most important measure organizations can take to improve their safety.

Greco points out that more healthcare organizations are adding security officers, and they are getting more training to deal with working in healthcare settings.

“We're seeing a more sophisticated, more highly trained security force coming into the healthcare setting, and I think that that is being really well responded to,” she says.

Four in ten (42%) identified duress buttons as their top technology option to boost safety. With such buttons, employees could alert security that they need assistance.

While some healthcare workers say they would like to have duress buttons, many said they don’t want organizations to use them to monitor their whereabouts for reasons beyond safety. More than two-thirds (68%) said they prefer buttons that are only used for alerts in times of trouble, rather than tracking them randomly.

“They are perceived to be possibly used in a punitive way,” Greco says. “They don't want that. They want to be trusted.”

Hospitals and health systems continue to deal with violent incidents, and some nurses and physicians say that the problem has worsened in recent years.

Read more: Hospital violence cost more than $18 billion, and the price tag could be higher