The push to protect health care workers comes in response to an increase in violence at facilities around the county.

Hawaii officials have struggled to address the problem despite building a $160 million forensic hospital designed to improve safety.

A report from Department of Human Services to the federal government paints a grim picture, but the state plans to award extra pay to try to attract more workers.

Construction of a state-of-the-art psychiatric hospital was supposed to mark a new era in worker and patient safety. Instead, a familiar set of problems emerged.

School psychologists are in a constant state of triage because of a shortage in special education teachers and behavioral health specialists.

The licensed practical nurse role is being phased out in favor of more specialization.

The killing of a nurse last week happened outside the main secure facility, but it cast a spotlight on concerns about staff safety.

Oahu has had 51 traffic deaths so far this year caused at least in part by alcohol, officers said.

The killing was a first for the state-run psychiatric hospital, officials said, although it has a history of other violence against both staff and patients.

UPDATES: The suspect had been stable enough to be placed in a supervised residential program after being discharged from the hospital’s acute care unit, officials said.