Has the Workplace Violence Epidemic Become a Financial Epidemic for the Healthcare Industry?

(Part 1)

Healthcare organizations face a crisis that's quietly eroding their bottom line while threatening the industry's future: workplace violence. According to a recent World Health Organization report, an estimated 38% of healthcare workers will suffer physical violence at some point in their careers—violence perpetrated primarily by patients and visitors. Yet the true scope of this epidemic remains hidden, as research cited by WHO suggests that fewer than half of all incidents are ever reported.

This culture of silence comes at a staggering cost that most healthcare executives have yet to fully calculate.

Is Violence Simply a “Part of the Job”?

The belief that violence is simply "part of the job," combined with inadequate reporting protocols and healthcare workers' inherent empathy for patients in crisis, has created a massive blind spot in organizational risk management. Studies conducted in Nigeria found that between 64% and 88% of health workers reported experiencing workplace violence, yet incidents remain largely undocumented across healthcare systems globally. When leadership makes strategic decisions based on incomplete—and dangerously misleading—data, they cannot accurately forecast the financial impact on operations, staffing, and long-term sustainability.

Reports from countries including Australia, China, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States show violence against healthcare workers has been rising over the last five years. In Italy, a 2019 study found that 11% of nurses had endured physical violence at work in the previous year, while 4% were threatened with a firearm.

The Measurable Economic Impact

The financial consequences of healthcare workplace violence extend far beyond immediate medical costs and workers' compensation claims. Consider the cascading economic impact:

• Workforce Attrition and Mental Health Crisis: Research shows that approximately 76% of psychiatric nurses who experience workplace violence subsequently develop depressive symptoms. This trauma drives increased absenteeism and turnover, compounding existing staffing challenges. The psychological toll—including anxiety, depression, PTSD, and burnout—doesn't just affect individual workers; it ripples through entire units as colleagues process vicarious trauma.

• The Competitive Disadvantage in a Shrinking Workforce: According to McKinsey analysis cited in recent WHO reports, the global healthcare workforce shortage is projected to reach 10 million workers by 2030. In this increasingly competitive talent market, organizations with reputations for unsafe working conditions will struggle to recruit and retain top professionals. Healthcare workers increasingly view workplace safety as a non-negotiable employment criterion—and they're researching which institutions take violence prevention seriously before accepting positions.

• Productivity and Care Quality Decline: As WHO data indicates, the well-being of healthcare workers directly correlates with the quality of care patients receive. When staff members are dealing with the aftermath of violence, productivity plummets, efficiency decreases, and medical errors increase. These quality deficits translate to reduced reimbursements under value-based care models, potential regulatory penalties, and reputational damage that can take years to repair.

• Operational and Legal Risks: Violence-induced staff shortages force organizations to rely more heavily on expensive temporary staffing, overtime costs, and crisis hiring at premium rates. Simultaneously, as awareness grows, healthcare workers are increasingly willing to pursue legal action against employers who fail to provide safe working environments, representing escalating financial risks for organizations without robust violence prevention programs.

A Real and Present Threat to the Healthcare Industry

WHO research makes clear that violence against healthcare workers harms not only the workers themselves, but also the health of the populations they serve. For C-suite leaders, the implications are equally stark from a business perspective: healthcare workplace violence isn't just a human resources issue or a security concern—it's a fundamental threat to organizational viability and industry sustainability.

Organizations that continue to treat violence as an inevitable occupational hazard rather than a preventable business risk are making a costly miscalculation that will impact their organization's competitive position, financial performance, and ability to fulfill their healthcare mission.

If we are not now in the throes of a double-edged epidemic, we may soon be there. There is hope, however. We’ll focus on that in Part 2.

About David Brake

DAVID is the Co-founder and CEO of OPTICS for Healthcare, an AI-first company dedicated to creating safer healthcare environments for staff, patients, and the public. The OPTICS platform was designed to revolutionize how healthcare organizations approach facility assessments, enabling them to conduct comprehensive current-state evaluations, generate detailed gap analyses, and develop customized workplace violence policies and action-specific operational playbooks.

About Kim Urbanek

KIM is a leading Workplace Violence Prevention expert with over 26 years of healthcare, security, and emergency management  experience. Kim is a nationally sought-after speaker, a #1 best-selling author, and a recognized healthcare consultant. Kim is the Co-founder and Chief of Innovation and Practice of OPTICS for Healthcare, an AI driven workplace violence risk assessment and mitigation tool, designed to reduce violence and improve operations at healthcare organizations.