Study Documented Systemic Violence Against Nurses
Managers of healthcare facilities should review workforce safety protocols following reports of widespread violence in Latin America.
Updated on Sept. 24, 2026 in Nursing Jobs
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A recent study in Nursing Inquiry identified systemic violence against 3,860 nurses and midwives across 18 Latin American and Caribbean nations. Researchers found that staff frequently bore the brunt of systemic healthcare failures, resulting in physical and emotional harm.
Why it matters
The findings highlight how structural issues like care overload and resource shortages can manifest as direct aggression and social stigma toward frontline employees. For operators, this underscores the risk that systemic administrative strain poses to staff retention and workplace safety.
The study surveyed 3,860 nurses and midwives across 18 Latin American and Caribbean countries regarding their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. It remains unclear how facility-level leadership can effectively address the ethical-political suffering identified by researchers.
The players
Nursing Inquiry
An academic journal that publishes peer-reviewed research on clinical practice and nursing workforce issues.
The details
The analysis, which spanned data collection from July 2022 through May 2025, categorized violence into three distinct themes: direct aggression, social stigma, and ethical-political suffering. Nurses reported being scapegoated for systemic failures, including a lack of hospital beds and essential medicines. These experiences often stemmed from high care-overload environments where the burden of structural accountability was placed directly on the individual clinician.
Timeline
Data collection for the nursing workforce study occurred from July 2022 to May 2025.
Findings from the study were published on September 24, 2026.
Market Landscape
This research provides a new quantitative baseline for workplace safety risks that intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic. It follows a pattern of academic reporting aimed at exposing how acute resource crises lead to the erosion of staff morale and safety in large-scale healthcare systems.
Healthcare operators should evaluate if their current facility protocols inadvertently place administrative failures on clinical staff. Establishing clear channels for incident reporting and resource-load transparency is essential to protecting staff from the ethical-political suffering cited in the report.
The takeaway
The research demonstrates that nursing safety is intrinsically linked to organizational transparency regarding supply and staffing capacity. Operators should track staff sentiment regarding resource availability to identify early indicators of burnout and potential workplace aggression.
Further reading
For more on evolving workforce challenges, see our latest analysis on Nursing Jobs.
More information
Review the full findings in the study on nursing violence in Latin America.
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Should hospitals be held more accountable for the safety and well-being of their nursing staff?
