Mitigating Targeted Violence in Healthcare Settings: AHA and FBI Partnership

According to an Oct. 22 Special Bulletin, the AHA in partnership with the FBI released a new resource and webpage on mitigating targeted violence in healthcare settings.

The Special Bulletin said, “Targeted violence in healthcare refers to intentional and harmful acts in which care teams, patients and healthcare facilities are specifically singled out. Such acts of violence can take many forms, including physical assaults, verbal threats, harassment, and even large-scale attacks. Targeted violence compromises access and delivery of care, creates difficult work environments, and impacts the overall safety and quality of healthcare delivery.”

Further, “To assist in addressing these concerns, the AHA partnered with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit to promote violence prevention strategies and address the escalating threats and acts of targeted violence against health care facilities and the workforce.”

The partnership aims to offer a full suite of resources for hospitals and health systems to implement threat assessment and threat management principles.

The first resource available is an issue brief evaluating threat assessment and threat management and steps to take should a potential threat be identified.

There is also a new dedicated webpage, “Mitigating Targeted Violence in Health Care Settings.”