Part One of a Two-Part Series
In a healthcare landscape burdened by financial pressures, workforce shortages, and heightened public scrutiny, workplace violence prevention can feel like yet another challenge piled on an already overflowing plate. But safety isn’t just another initiative—it’s a strategic imperative that must start within the highest levels of an organization’s leadership.
A Culture of Safety in Healthcare Starts in the Boardroom
Creating a true culture of safety in healthcare begins in the boardroom. The board’s role is to govern by setting goals and establishing policies to support them. While hospital executives oversee day-to-day operations, the board approves the mission, vision, and strategic direction of the hospital or healthcare system and is responsible for monitoring overall performance.
Ensuring financial viability of the organization is a key responsibility of a board and it is not uncommon for financial performance to receive more focus than quality, safety, and service excellence. Health systems are expected to prioritize patient safety, however workplace safety often does not share the same level of emphasis.
As healthcare leaders, we must challenge these norms. When safety becomes a cultural pillar, it strengthens performance across the organization. A commitment to workplace violence prevention empowers the workforce to perform at their highest level, driving focus, engagement, and action across every layer of the health system. For board members and executives to truly enhance patient safety, they must recognize that employee well-being is inextricably linked to patient care and the system’s ability to thrive.
A Turning Point for Change
In recent years, it has become increasingly clear that rising violence in healthcare is taking a toll. Patients and family members navigating emotionally charged situations have lower tolerance and trust. Healthcare professionals are being stretched thinner and burning out. And with social civility on a noticeable decline, we are reaching tipping points in healthcare that are impossible to ignore.
It’s up to leadership to confront this head-on and lead their teams through these challenges. The long-standing belief that healthcare workers must tolerate difficult behavior in the name of patient satisfaction is no longer acceptable. Workplace violence prevention is finally getting the attention it deserves.
Making Safety Actionable
It’s one thing to talk about workplace violence prevention, but it’s another to embed a commitment to safety into an organization’s DNA. It requires accountability, measurement, and training. This starts with establishing a safety baseline through culture surveys and/or incident data. Organizations should:
- Establish a clear baseline using staff safety surveys and incident reporting data.
- Define expectations for all employees, from frontline staff to executives.
- Implement zero-tolerance policies with clear expectations for patients and families.
- Equip teams with the tools and training they need to respond appropriately to threats.
- Hold individuals accountable when behaviors fall short, with fair and consistent feedback.
It’s important to mention that while the needs of each organization will vary from facility to facility, technological innovation should be considered and implemented where appropriate. For example, traditional safety measures were limited to resources like static panic buttons or calling codes over the intercom. Nowadays, technology has advanced to the point where each team member can wear a discreet duress button. This empowers frontline workers to immediately summon help anytime they need support.
Integrations with digital incident mapping enable responders and security to identify the person triggering the alert and visualize their exact location—and even activate nearby cameras—to accelerate response efforts and increase situational awareness. Evaluating technology such as CrisisAlert™ wearable duress buttons and Safety Blueprint™ mapping can prove extremely valuable for an organization focused on enhancing safety.
It takes time to see a noticeable change in the culture of safety in healthcare organizations, and it starts with deliberate and coordinated action driven by the leadership team. People pay attention to what their leaders consistently talk about and model—and that includes safety.
Listening to the Front Lines
Engaging frontline staff in shaping safety strategies is one of the most effective ways to build trust and accelerate results. While some leaders fear that including more voices might slow down decision-making, the opposite is often true. Frontline employees live the realities of workplace violence and know where breakdowns occur. Leveraging their insights will help drive success. Empower them to ask questions, share feedback, suggest ideas, and be respectfully critical. Their presence on councils or in planning sessions needs to be embraced.
Including staff doesn’t just lead to better solutions; it also builds engagement, ownership, and buy-in. Assisting those who participate in working groups with talking points to summarize progress and share feedback with peers will elevate the level of awareness of the organization’s commitment to enhancing safety. And it must come from every level—from the executive boardroom to new employee orientation.
Building a Balanced Safety Committee
Nowadays, establishing a collaborative workplace violence prevention committee is a necessity. It requires intentional design and participation of varied professional and ancillary roles within the organization to ensure different perspectives and voices are heard. Embracing the inclusion of patients and family advisors is highly valuable.
Committees that only include familiar or agreeable voices will struggle to drive innovation. Sometimes, the biggest skeptics can become the strongest advocates when they are brought into the fold and given space to contribute.
Other non-negotiables include:
- Executive Sponsorship. If safety work isn’t visible to the C-suite, it risks being deprioritized.
- Clear Goals and Objectives. Empower this team to identify areas needing improvement and the priorities demanding focus first.
- Support and Resources. Plan to allocate a budget and resources based on the findings of the committee. A project without funding is unlikely to succeed.
Final Advice: Start the Conversation
The most important takeaway—organizations don’t need a perfect plan to get started. Take the first steps and build as you go. It’s ok to acknowledge that your organization may not be where it needs to be. Talk about it. Ask people what they need to feel safe. And most importantly, listen.
Leaders need to lead by example. Make rounds, hold meetings, and allow staff to speak openly and share their concerns. Test innovations that staff suggest and implement changes to support workplace violence prevention. When you foster a workplace culture that embodies safety and the data and activities demonstrate improvement, you will build a more fulfilled, resilient, and productive workforce committed to the goals of the organization.
CENTEGIX is committed to empowering healthcare professionals to feel safer at work so they can focus on what matters most—delivering exceptional patient care. Click here to see how we can help you build a culture of safety in healthcare.
About the Author: Nancy-Shendell Falik is a healthcare executive and thought leader with over 30 years of experience enhancing operational excellence, system-wide alignment, and quality of patient care. She formerly served as President and SVP of Hospital Operations at Baystate Health, and as SVP of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer at Tufts Medical Center.
