The American Hospital Association (AHA) and Hospitals Against Violence have published a resource to help hospital and health system leaders navigate verbal abuse and violence in healthcare settings.

Healthcare violence costs health systems billions of dollars and negatively impacts patient care and workforce wellbeing. The report, titled “Reducing incivility and violence in healthcare settings: Maximizing the use of de-escalation techniques,” describes de-escalation benefits and strategies for preventing and managing healthcare violence. It also provides guidance and real-world case studies for implementing de-escalation.

The report uses a definition from an International Journal of Nursing Studies study to describe de-escalation: “a collective term for a range of interwoven staff-delivered components comprising communication, self-regulation, assessment, actions, and safety maintenance, which aims to extinguish or reduce patient and family aggression/agitation irrespective of its cause, and improve staff-patient relationships while eliminating or minimizing coercion or restriction.”

Some of the key points include:

• De-escalation can lead to less healthcare employee burnout, as well as less violence in healthcare settings.
• De-escalation can improve employee confidence and well-being.
• Every staff member should be trained and regularly refreshed on de-escalation.
• De-escalation includes “recognizing early signs of agitation, maintaining calm communication, and reducing tension.”
• Putting together a Behavioral Assessment Response Team (BART) can help organizations prevent healthcare violence, help teams implement de-escalation, and provide extra support in these areas.
• De-escalation can be added to existing workflows.