ALISO VIEJO, Calif. - March 24, 2026 – Efforts to address workplace violence against healthcare professionals need to evolve beyond preventing individual incidents to confronting systemic challenges that impede patient-centered, trauma-informed care, according to an article published in AACN Advanced Critical Care.
“Five Topics Overlooked in Workplace Violence Discussions in Health Care Settings” examines five underrecognized yet critical domains of inquiry that form the basis for practice and cultural changes in workplace violence prevention (WVP) on non-psychiatric units.
Co-author Kathleen Delaney, PhD, APRN, PMHNP, FAAN, is professor emeritus, Rush University College of Nursing, Chicago.
“No one should believe violence or physical assault is part of the job, and we must look beyond preventing individual incidents to addressing the organizational structures, staffing models and cultural expectations that shape systemic issues,” she said. “We need a paradigm shift beyond current approaches, if we truly want to create safer hospitals, support nurse retention and honor the ethical imperative to provide care in a manner that is safe, compassionate and just.”
WVP efforts often focus on staff skills training to help nurses and other caregivers respond to aggression with de-escalation techniques and response strategies. Such a technique-centric model has proven insufficient to address the complexity of aggression in healthcare settings, and the authors advocate for using principle-based frameworks, such as patient-centered or trauma-informed care.
Among the factors discussed in the article is how nurses view WVP within the evolving scope of their professional responsibilities, with the recommendation to reframe the issue as integrated into nursing practice, not as an additional responsibility.
The article also examines the ethical tensions that arise when nurses must weigh the duty to provide care with the need to maintain a safe environment when responding to workplace violence. In addition, current approaches to WVP often fail to emphasize patient engagement using relational skills, versus distancing oneself, as a proactive practice to mitigate perceived threats.
The five elements also include organizational constraints, such as lack of teamwork and insufficient staffing, that limit effective WVP, and the unintended consequences of developing a risk-averse environment, such as an over-reliance on security and policies that focus on punishing abusive behaviors.
The article is part of a symposium in the journal’s spring 2026 issue that focuses on behavioral health challenges in critical care. Additional articles:
- Leadership Support for Health Care Staff Managing Challenging Behavior of Patients
- Implementation of Proactive Psychiatric Consultation With Cardiology Inpatients
- Exploring the Role of Nature Within Critical Care to Humanize the Intensive Care Unit Experience
- Robotic Pets in Hospitals: Fostering Connection
- Delirium and Physical Restraints in Critically Ill Patients: Addressing Their Relationship From the Perspective of Patient Comfort
- Sleep Health in Critically Ill Children With Acute Respiratory Failure
AACN Advanced Critical Care is a quarterly, peer-reviewed publication with in-depth articles intended for experienced critical care and acute care clinicians at the bedside, advanced practice nurses, and clinical and academic educators. Each issue also includes a topic-based symposium, feature articles and columns of interest to critical care and progressive care clinicians.
Access the issue by visiting the AACN Advanced Critical Care website at http://acc.aacnjournals.org.
About AACN Advanced Critical Care: AACN Advanced Critical Care is a quarterly, peer-reviewed publication with in-depth articles intended for experienced critical care and acute care clinicians at the bedside, advanced practice nurses and clinical and academic educators. An official publication of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), the journal has a circulation of 134,000 and can be accessed at http://acc.aacnjournals.org.
About the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses: For more than 55 years, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) has been dedicated to acute and critical care nursing excellence. The organization’s vision is to create a healthcare system driven by the needs of patients and their families in which acute and critical care nurses make their optimal contribution. AACN is the world’s largest specialty nursing organization, with more than 134,000 members and over 170 chapters in the United States.
American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
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