As hospital violence incidents rise, healthcare facilities deal with the situation with plans that include everything from moving any potential weapons away from a patient's room to additional training for security officers, according to an article on the Fierce Healthcare website.

"Workplace violence training, learning how to de-escalate situations, how to recognize escalating behavior could certainly be adaptable to anyone, big or small," according to Tim Vangerud, security director at Fargo, North Dakota's Sanford Medical Center. "It becomes customized when you do your own local risk assessment and start doing your program based to your local threats."

Successful violence prevention efforts rely on a full commitment at the executive level. "We have some of our vice presidents involved in our workplace violence work groups, and … we have a lot of support from upper leadership here," Vangerud said. 

Sanford also has a close relationship with the local police and sheriff's department and contracts with local agencies for potentially violent patients.