Organizational Determinants of Workplace Violence Against Hospital Workers

To identify organizational factors contributing to workplace violence in hospitals.

A questionnaire survey was conducted in 2013 among employees in a Midwestern hospital system (n = 446 respondents). Questions concerned employees' experiences of violence at work in the previous year and perceptions of the organizational safety climate. Logistic regressions examined staff interaction and safety climate factors associated with verbal and physical violence, respectively.

Interpersonal conflict was a risk factor for verbal violence (OR 1.49, 95% CI 1.04 to 2.12, P < 0.05) and low work efficiency was a risk factor for physical violence (OR .98, 0.97 to 0.99). A poor violence prevention climate was a risk factor for verbal (OR 0.48, 0.36 to 0.65, P < .001) and physical (OR 0.60, 0.45 to 0.82, P < .05) violence.

Interventions should aim at improving coworker relationships, work efficiency, and management promotion of the hospital violence prevention climate.