Workplace Violence in Healthcare Settings.

Abstract

Workplace violence includes acts of incivility, bullying, verbal and physical aggression, threatening words or actions, sexual harassment, and physical assaults; and is a profound problem for healthcare workers. Although the number of published articles addressing workplace violence has increased in recent years, there was a lack of opportunities for researchers studying workplace violence in the United States’ healthcare sector to meet and share theories, models, findings, and prevention programs and their evaluations. As a result, there became a critical need for a domestic conference to be held where innovators, educators, and researchers could come together to network, build interprofessional teams, and share strategies, potential solutions, educational materials, best practices, programs, policies, and findings related to the prevention, management, and recovery associated with workplace violence. In May 2012, the National Conference for Workplace Violence in Healthcare Settings was held in Cincinnati, Ohio. At the 21/2 day conference, four keynote, 20 paper, and 23 poster presenters delivered relevant and timely content with direct implications for healthcare policy. From this cadre of presentations, we invited presenters to submit papers for this special issue. We are now excited and honored to present this special issue of Workplace Violence in Healthcare Set-