Fighting violence against health workers: a way to improve quality of care?

Violence against health care workers impairs the quality of care. In one university medical center in France, 46% of the health care workers were physically assaulted at some point in the previous 12 months and 79% were verbally insulted. This article describes a participatory approach that was used to ensure health care workers take an active role in designing and implementing anti-violence measures. In each unit, a working group of health care professionals and managers developed an action plan for reducing violence-generating practices. This proactive approach is a powerful tool for motivating health care professionals to improve quality of care.