WILLIMANTIC, Conn. — The killing of a Connecticut nurse making a house call in October was a nightmare come true for an industry gripped by the fear of violence.

Already stressed out by staffing shortages and mounting caseloads, heath care workers are increasingly worrying about the possibility of a patient becoming violent — a scenario that is too common and on the rise nationwide.

Joyce Grayson, a 63-year-old mother of six, went into a halfway house for sex offenders in late October to give medication to a man with a violent past. Police found her body in the basement and have named her patient as the suspect in her killing.

Grayson’s death has her peers and lawmakers renewing their yearslong pleas for better protections for home health care workers, including sending them out with escorts and providing more information about their patients. The calls come during an era of increasing violence against medical professionals in general.

“I used to go into some pretty bad neighborhoods,” said Tracy Wodatch, a visiting nurse and chief executive of the Connecticut Association of Healthcare at Home. She said she used to call the police and get an officer to escort her when she felt unsafe. But because of budget and staffing issues, that is no longer an option, she said.

Grayson, who had been a nurse for over 36 years including the last 10 as a visiting nurse, was found dead Oct. 28 in the Willimantic halfway house. She didn’t return from a visit to patient Michael Reese, a convicted rapist. No charges have been filed in the killing.

“It’s all nurses are thinking about right now, even the hospital nurses because they’ve had so many close calls,” said Connecticut state Sen. Martha Marx, a visiting nurse and New London Democrat who is calling for changes in both state and federal laws.