Written by: Amy Rock, January 1, 2025
In 2023, assaults on nurses increased by 5%, according to a report released by Press Ganey. Last year also saw a lot of assaults against healthcare security workers.
Most recently, healthcare violence was thrust into the spotlight after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down in the streets of New York City. The alleged shooter, a 26-year-old man with no criminal record, reportedly had grievances with the healthcare industry.
Let’s take a look back at Campus Safety’s most-read healthcare stories from 2024 — most of which relate to volent incidents in hospitals.
1. De-Escalating Angry People: A Critical Safety Skill in Education and Healthcare
When you see the rest of the healthcare security articles that made this list, it will make perfect sense why this one received the most pageviews. While de-escalation is an important skill for school leaders to practice, it’s arguably more important for healthcare workers. Many customers are there for highly stressful life events, such as a serious illness or childbirth. Patient visitors are also welcome, creating more opportunity for potential conflict.
This article offers five de-escalation tips that will help healthcare workers effectively deal with patients or visitors.
Read the full article here.
2. Newport News: 2 Dead in Murder-Suicide at Riverside Regional Medical Center
This tragedy was unique in that the husband and wife were an older couple and the person who carried out the murder-suicide was the wife.
Authorities said it appears the man, who was a patient at Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News, Va., was shot by the woman before she turned the gun on herself. No one else was injured. They were pronounced dead at the scene.
Read about the incident.
3. Violence Against Hospital Security Officers Highlights Need for Retention Strategy Revisions
In a span of several weeks earlier this year, multiple hospital security officers sustained injuries after being attacked by both patients and non-patients.
These attacks reiterated the need for hospitals to frequently revamp their recruitment and retention practices as healthcare employees continue to leave the industry at an alarming rate. The Healthcare Crime Survey from the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety (IAHSS) Foundation found that in 2023, hospitals averaged 9.5 full-time security employees per 100 beds. The result of the previous survey was 10.7 security personnel per 100 beds.
Read more about the incidents here.
4. Ex-Plattsburgh Hospital Employee Who Made Threats Arrested with Loaded Gun
This incident was unique in that threat came from a former employee rather than a patient or visitors.
On Feb. 12, Plattsburgh City Police (PCP) received a tip from a concerned relative who said 52-year-old Robert Thibodeau had recently been fired from his job as a senior electrician at Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital (CVPH) in Plattsburgh, N.Y., and made comments about returning to the hospital to harm people.
PCP officers, New York State Police, and the Clinton County Sheriff’s Department stopped Thibodeau as he was heading north toward CVPH. Police said Thibodeau initially ignored commands to exit the vehicle but was subsequently taken into custody without further incident.
Read the full article here.
5. Detroit: Patient Fires Gun at Nurse, Shoots Self at Sinai-Grace Hospital
Back in May, a patient at DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital in Detroit shot at a nurse before turning the gun on himself. The nurse was unharmed and the patient was deemed brain-dead.
The patient had been admitted to the hospital three weeks prior for pneumonia-like symptoms. He was paralyzed and allegedly suffered from mental health issues. In a statement, a DMC spokesperson said the incident was an attempted suicide.
Several current and former employees said metal detectors are part of the hospital intake process but not necessarily if a patient comes in by ambulance.
Read more about the incident.
6. University of Iowa Hospital Admin Used Stolen Identity for Over 30 Years
A man who lived under an assumed name for over 30 years spent more than a decade working as an IT administrator for the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
In 2019, the real William Donald Woods learned someone was accumulating debt using his name. Iowa federal prosecutors said Woods, who was homeless at the time, was unable to answer a set of security questions connected to the account and the bank called the Los Angeles Police Department.
The LAPD contacted who they believed to be the real William Woods in Wisconsin, who then faxed them what prosecutors now say were “a series of phony identification documents.” The man told police he did not authorize anyone in California to access his bank accounts.
Police arrested Woods on felony identity theft and false impersonation charges under the name Matthew David Keirans — the name of the man who had stolen his identity. Woods was held without bail at the LA County Jail. Prosecutors sought a competency exam when he continuously insisted he was the real William Woods, Omaha World-Herald reports. He eventually pleaded no contest, acknowledging he would likely be convicted at trial. In total, he spent 428 days in jail and 147 days in a mental health facility where he was prescribed psychotropic medication.
Read more about the wild story here.
7. Assaults on Nurses Increased 5% in 2023
Reported assaults against nurses increased 5% across the United States in 2023, according to a report released by Press Ganey in April 2024.
The report shows the rate of reported assaults climbed from 2.59 per 100 nursing personnel in 2022 to 2.71 last year, amounting to nearly 17,000 assaults — a record high. Most reported events occurred in psychiatric units, followed by the emergency department, adult, pediatric, and lastly, perioperative units.
While the findings are concerning, the rise may be partly due to an overall willingness to report assaults as the industry increasingly focuses on workplace safety culture and awareness, the report says. Employee perceptions of their organization caring about their safety improved significantly, up +0.03 to 4.15 out of five.
Read more of the findings here.
8. Who Protects the Protectors After a Critical Incident?
In this contributed article, a security supervisor at the Women’s & Children’s Hospital in Buffalo, N.Y., shares his experience with trauma and the importance of supporting security personnel following a critical incident.
The author shares how even 25+ years, the “memories of these events are as fresh today as they were then.” His personal account demonstrates the impact of trauma and how it can trigger a range of both physical and emotional responses.
“I understand the technical information as well as the causes and consequences of trauma. I can clinically apply this knowledge to my own experience,” he wrote. “All the explanations and analyses make sense, and they help me deal with it all. I just can’t – and probably never will – be able to get rid of the gut punch.”
Read more about his story.
9. Lehigh Valley Health Network to Pay $65 Million After Hackers Leaked Nude Photos of Cancer Patients
In Sept. 2024, Lehigh Valley Health Network, a Pennsylvania-based healthcare system, agreed to pay $65 million to the victims of a Feb. 2023 ransomware attack that resulted in nude treatment photos being posted online.
The data of nearly 135,000 patients and employees were exposed when Russia-based ransomware group BlackCat hacked one physician practice within the Lehigh Valley Health Network. Of those patients, over 600 had their personal medical records accessed, including clinically appropriate images of oncology treatments.
To pressure LVHN into paying a $5 million ransom, BlackCat began releasing stolen data on its leak site, including screenshots of documents with patient diagnoses and images of three breast cancer patients, naked from the waist up. In total, around 132 gigabytes of information and images were uploaded to the dark web.
Read more about the incident.
10. Elder Abuse Protections: Where Does Your State Fall On This List?
Each year, WalletHub releases a report highlighting how each state is protecting elders against abuse, including financial abuse as scammers increasingly target this vulnerable population.
It is estimated that at least one in 10 Americans over the age of 65 will experience some form of elder abuse in a given year. While 60% of elder abuse is committed by family members, rates of abuse of older people are high in institutions such as nursing homes and long-term care facilities, with two in three staff members reporting they have committed abuse in the past year, according to the World Health Organization.
In its 2023 States with the Best Elder-Abuse Protections report, WalletHub compares all 50 states and the District of Columbia across three key dimensions: prevalence, resources, and protection.
See where your state falls on the list.
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