Workplace violence is on the rise for Texas nurses

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports that Ivette Palomeque has endured plenty of threats as a registered nurse in Houston, but she’s still shaken by the memory of a family threatening to shoot her and her colleagues at a local hospital. The incident happened years ago at a hospital where Palomeque no longer works. A patient died, and the grieving family was so upset and angry that they threatened to come back to the hospital with guns, Palomeque said. Fortunately, they never did. “It was scary because they had to actually put the unit on lockdown,” said Palomeque, a critical care nurse. “Staff were scared. Some were nowhere to be found, and later on we found out it was because they were hiding.”

The incident was a particularly egregious example of the threats, abuse and violence that Palomeque has seen during her 13 years as a nurse in the Houston area. She’s seen a pregnant colleague being kicked in the stomach. She’s also been hit and kicked by a woman who refused to leave the room so staff could perform CPR on her husband. Palomeque now works at Memorial Hermann – Texas Medical Center, which she credited for making her feel much safer than other places she’s worked. Experiences like Palomeque’s are all too common for nurses who have seen a steady increase in violence and abuse toward health care workers. The possibility of being exposed to workplace violence has long been a lamentable part of the job, but such incidents became more common during the COVID-19 pandemic and have not subsided since then, according to a 2024 survey by the nurses’ union and professional organization National Nurses United. The prevalence of violence and abuse has been harmful to nurses, who continue to experience high levels of burnout in the wake of the pandemic. That stress is causing many to reevaluate their careers; the National Nurses United survey found that more than six in 10 nurses were considering quitting their job or leaving the profession entirely due to workplace violence. “It takes its toll on the workforce,” said Serena Bumpus, the CEO of the Texas Nurses Association. “And that is a huge factor in whether or not nurses decide to stay where they are, or just in the profession as a whole.”