A troubling new survey has put hard numbers on what many nurses have long known in their bones: the healthcare workplace is becoming increasingly dangerous for the people tasked with saving lives. According to recent survey data from the 2026 State of Nursing report, 27% of nurses experienced a physical assault at work over the past 12 months — meaning they were hit, kicked, pushed, bitten, or grabbed by a patient or visitor while on the job.
Even more alarming? More than half of those who experienced violence never filed a formal report.
The Numbers Paint a Grim Picture
Physical assaults are only part of the story. The survey found that 52% of nurses experienced verbal threats or aggressive language during the same period. When you combine the physical and verbal incidents, the data reveals that a majority of bedside nurses are navigating some form of workplace aggression on a regular basis.
Certain specialties face dramatically higher risk. Nearly 59% of telemetry nurses and 58% of progressive care nurses reported being physically assaulted in the past year. Emergency department nurses weren’t far behind, with more than half — 51% — reporting physical violence. By contrast, NICU nurses (2%) and obstetrics nurses (7%) reported far lower rates, though any violence in a healthcare setting remains unacceptable.
The overall takeaway is stark: more than one-third of nurses — 34% — say they simply do not feel safe from violence in their workplace.
Why Nurses Aren’t Reporting
Perhaps the most concerning finding in the survey isn’t the violence itself, but what happens — or doesn’t happen — afterward. Among nurses who experienced a workplace violence incident, only 54% formally reported it. The most common reason for staying silent? They didn’t believe anything would change.
That skepticism appears to be well-founded. Among nurses who did report incidents, the most common outcome was no action taken by management. Fewer than 1 in 10 nurses said they felt supported by leadership after making a report. That kind of institutional indifference creates a vicious cycle: nurses stop reporting because nothing changes, and nothing changes because leadership doesn’t see the reports.
This reporting gap means the true scope of workplace violence in nursing is almost certainly far worse than any official statistic suggests. If barely half of assaulted nurses are filing reports, hospitals and health systems are operating with a dangerously incomplete picture of how unsafe their facilities really are.
A Crisis That’s Driving Nurses Out
Workplace violence doesn’t just leave physical bruises — it’s accelerating the nursing shortage. Separate workforce data shows that nurses are twice as likely as physicians to report being physically assaulted (60% vs. 29%), and they’re also the most likely healthcare professionals to say they plan to leave their jobs within the next year, with 50% of nurses indicating they’re considering an exit.
The connection between workplace violence and nurse turnover is hard to ignore. When you combine unsafe working conditions with already-existing frustrations over staffing ratios, burnout, and compensation, it becomes clear why so many experienced nurses are walking away from the bedside. The country is already projected to be short approximately 263,870 registered nurses in 2026, and workplace violence is making that gap harder to close.
States like Missouri have seen nurses publicly push back against the normalization of violence, demanding that assaults against healthcare workers be treated with the same seriousness as assaults against other professionals. Legislative efforts in several states are attempting to create stronger legal protections for nurses, including enhanced penalties for assaulting a healthcare worker, but progress has been uneven.
What This Means for Nurses
If you’re a working nurse, these numbers probably don’t surprise you. But they should motivate you to take action — both for your own safety and for the profession as a whole.
Report every incident. Yes, it can feel pointless when leadership doesn’t follow through. But documentation creates a paper trail that matters for legal protections, workers’ compensation claims, and advocacy efforts. If your facility makes reporting difficult or discourages it, that’s a red flag worth noting.
Know your rights. OSHA requires employers to provide a workplace free from recognized hazards. If your hospital lacks a workplace violence prevention program, de-escalation training, or adequate security staffing, they may be falling short of their legal obligations. The Joint Commission’s new National Performance Goal on staffing — which took effect in January 2026 — adds another layer of accountability for hospitals to maintain safe environments.
Support legislative action. National Nurses United and several state nursing associations are pushing for federal workplace violence prevention standards specific to healthcare. Getting involved — even if it’s just contacting your state representative — adds your voice to the movement.
Take care of yourself. The emotional toll of workplace violence is real. If you’ve been assaulted or threatened, you don’t have to brush it off. Employee assistance programs, peer support networks, and mental health resources exist for a reason. Toughness isn’t about absorbing trauma in silence.
The Bottom Line
One in four nurses being physically assaulted at work isn’t a statistic to shrug off — it’s a crisis. And when the majority of those incidents go unreported because nurses have lost faith that their employers will act, the system is failing the very people it depends on.
Hospitals talk constantly about patient safety. It’s time workplace safety for nurses received the same urgency. Until nurses feel safe coming to work, staffing shortages will continue to worsen, patient outcomes will suffer, and the cycle of burnout and attrition will keep spinning.
The data is clear. The question now is whether healthcare leadership is willing to listen.
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