MA Hospital Injuries, Including Assaults On Staff, Have Soared: Report

MASSACHUSETTS — The incidence of serious injuries at acute care hospitals in Massachusetts, including patient suicides, falls, pressure ulcers, and physical assaults, increased significantly between 2018 and 2022, according to a new report from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health reviewed by the Boston Globe.

The number of these reportable events—which rose from 1,066 to 1,632 between 2018 and 2022— represents a variety of injuries ranging from pressure sores on bedridden patients to death among patients who harmed themselves, according to the outlet. It also represents physical assault or abuse incidents, more than half of which were by patients on clinical staff, security officers, paramedics, and EMTs.

Barbara Fain, executive director of the Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety, emphasized to the Globe that the increase in such events is a “strong signal” of what happens when there aren’t enough staff to respond quickly — a consequence of understaffing and overworked hospital staff which have plagued hospitals across the country and the world since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

“I have been practicing for 40 years, and I never thought I would see pressure ulcers in the emergency department because people are in the department so long,” Dr. Gregory Volturo, chair of emergency medicine at UMass Memorial Health, told the Globe.

Read the full report at the Boston Globe.

Patch reached out to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health for more information.