Reframing healthcare violence as systemic failure

J Hosp Med. 2026 Feb 8. doi: 10.1002/jhm.70276. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Healthcare workers face escalating violence despite significant security investments, suggesting current approaches miss fundamental causes. We argue that most healthcare violence stems not from individual pathology but from systemic failures-financial barriers, insurance denials, access delays, and administrative complexity-that create volatile patient-provider interactions. Healthcare workers become targets for anger about institutional dysfunctions they cannot control. Current prevention strategies emphasizing individual risk assessment and physical security fail to address these root causes. We propose a research agenda examining connections between system failures and violence, potentially identifying upstream interventions that complement existing security measures while targeting the healthcare dysfunctions driving this epidemic.

PMID:41656938 | DOI:10.1002/jhm.70276