Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington (Dr Vrablik, Dr Lawrence); Department of Emergency Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut (Dr Ray, Dr Wong); University of Washington School of Social Work and Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center, Seattle, Washington (Dr Moore).
Address correspondence to: Ambrose H. Wong, MD, MSEd, Department of Emergency Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, 464 Congress Avenue Suite 260, New Haven, CT 06519 ([email protected]).
This study received institutional board approval from Yale University and University of Washington and followed the 32-item consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ).
Dr. Vrablik was funded by the State of Washington Department of Labor & Industries Safety and Health Investment Projects Program. Dr. Wong is supported by the Robert E. Leet and Clara Guthrie Patterson Trust Mentored Research Award and the KL2 TR001862 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS), components of the National Institutes of Health and the National Institutes of Health Roadmap for Medical Research. The funding sources had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; or preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript.
The authors report no conflicts of interest.
Clinical Significance: Workplace safety in the emergency department is significantly threatened by episodes of patient assault. Our multi-institutional investigation of health worker experiences after being assaulted by a patient identified interconnected influences from individual workers, organizations, and society at large. Approaches at multiple phases of preparedness are needed to have sustained impact.
