Reframing healthcare violence as systemic failure.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Public Health
• Sociology of Health

Background:

• Healthcare workers experience increasing workplace violence.
• Current security investments have not curbed this trend.
• Existing prevention strategies focus on individual risk, overlooking systemic factors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify the fundamental causes of escalating violence against healthcare workers.
• To propose a shift in prevention strategies from individual to systemic focus.
• To outline a research agenda for understanding the link between healthcare system failures and violence.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual analysis of the drivers of healthcare workplace violence.
• Argumentation based on systemic failures (financial barriers, insurance issues, access delays, administrative complexity).
• Proposal for a future research agenda.

Main Results:

• Healthcare violence is primarily a result of systemic dysfunctions, not individual pathology.
• Patients and the public direct anger towards healthcare workers due to uncontrollable institutional failures.
• Current security measures are insufficient as they do not address root systemic causes.

Conclusions:

• Effective violence prevention requires addressing systemic healthcare failures.
• Future research should investigate the connection between healthcare system dysfunctions and workplace violence.
• Upstream interventions targeting healthcare system issues are needed to complement security measures.