Confronting Workplace Violence in Healthcare
At TeamHealth’s National Medical Leadership Conference, senior leaders came together to discuss the growing challenge of workplace violence in healthcare. Mike Wiechart, TeamHealth’s president and chief operating officer, moderated a discussion featuring Dr. Jim Horst, chief clinical officer for behavioral health; Dr. Robert Franz, president of TeamHealth’s West Group; and Theresa Tavernero, senior vice president of performance and innovation. The following article highlights key insights from their conversation and explores what healthcare organizations can do to create safer environments for clinicians and patients.
Workplace violence has become an increasingly urgent challenge for healthcare organizations, affecting not only the safety of clinicians and staff, but also workforce stability, patient care, and organizational culture.
Despite its prevalence, violence is still often viewed as an unavoidable consequence of caring for patients during moments of crisis. For that reason, healthcare leaders have begun to increasingly voice that it is not inevitable and that addressing it requires coordinated action across the organization. The following insights are drawn from a panel discussion at TeamHealth’s National Medical Leadership Conference.
