About Us

The statistics are staggering.

According to surveys by the American College of Emergency Physicians and the Emergency Nurses Association, almost half of emergency physicians report being physically assaulted at work, while about 70 percent of emergency nurses report being hit and kicked while on the job. Furthermore, the vast majority – 80 percent – of emergency physicians say violence in the emergency department harms patient care. Similarly, emergency nurses report that the harmful consequences of experiencing a violent event at work interfere with the delivery of high-quality patient care.

The frequency of violent attacks on nurses, physicians and patients in our nation’s emergency departments is unconscionable and unacceptable. For all emergency health care professionals, being assaulted in the emergency department must no longer be tolerated as “part of the job.”

Inspired by the Raise Your Hand movement – which first encouraged emergency nurses in 2018 to share their workplace violence experiences – ACEP and ENA collaborated on an effort to meaningfully minimize the frequency of these attacks, protect emergency department professionals and build a new level of awareness about this crisis.

Launched in 2019, “No Silence on ED Violence” aims to support, empower and provide the resources our respective members need to effect safety improvements at their workplace, while engaging state and federal policymakers, stakeholder organizations and the public at large to generate action to address the problem.

We invite and encourage you to join us in this vital effort. Turn to this website for resources and content that help you support those victimized by workplace violence and explore ways to reduce the frequency of violent incidents. You can join the conversation on social media any time by using #StopEDViolence on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Amid this crisis of violence in emergency departments, the time has come to raise our voices to raise awareness of the dangers faced by all ED staff as they work each day to deliver the best possible care to patients when they need it most.