Violence Against Nurses at the Workplace

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Table of Contents

Workplace Violence Experienced by Nurses
The Instance of Violent Assaults at Hospital
References

Violence is a common phenomenon, which is increasingly found in modern society. In addition to repression, wars and terrorist acts, the mass media daily broadcast reports of maiming by people to each other, both in civilized and more primitive societies. It is controversial whether this indicates a real increase in violence or simply a more detailed coverage of the topic. Violence in the workplace affects almost all categories of workers in all sectors of the economy; the most common is in health care, which negatively affects the provision of medical services, including the deterioration of their quality, forcing medical workers to withdraw from the health care sector. The instance of violent assaults at Abbotsford hospital happened to nurses allows to reveal the main causes of workplace violence at hospitals and to highlight the problems of medical sphere workplace safety.

Workplace Violence Experienced by Nurses

Violence in the workplace is any act in which a person is subjected to violence, threats, intimidation or assault in his or her workplace. Healthcare workers, especially nurses, violence is common and widespread among different medical institutions. These are, for example, threatening behavior, verbal or written threats, verbal abuse, physical attacks such as pushing or kicking, rumors spread, abuse, psychological trauma, material damage, harassment, and bullying. (Mitchell, Ahmed, & Szabo, 2014).

Aggression directed at a nurse can come from a variety of sources: from patients, relatives of patients, doctors, and other health professionals. For the display of the mass character of the ongoing violence against the nurses, women of working age were interviewed, with more than ten years of experience. Throughout the year, more than 75% of nurses were subjected to violence, most of them from patients in the form of verbal abuse of more than 50% and physical violence within 30% (Speroni, Fitch, Dawson, Dugan, & Atherton, 2014).

The emergency nurses accounted for approximately 10% of the respondents, are more likely to be exposed to violence in the workplace, both verbal and physical on the part of patients. In all known cases, it is spoken about verbal violence, verbal threats of reprisal and real physical violence. Most of the violence was committed by men from 26 to 35 years. The reason for their behavior was the effect of alcohol and drugs, and an unstable mental state. Annually, the state spends up to 90 thousand dollars for compensation for damage from violence against nurses at the workplace, including direct treatment and financial compensation (Speroni et al., 2014).

The Instance of Violent Assaults at Hospital

As an example of workplace violence experienced by nurses, violent assaults at Abbotsford hospital were observed. Officially known two incidents that happened at Abbotsford hospital in two months at which three nurses suffered injuries by violent patients in the overfilled emergency department. The first incident happened in September, during patients’ assessment of the mental health of potential patients. Due to overcapacity hospital operating nurses had to work in a not safety place, namely in rooms for family conferences with hospital staff. Exactly the usage of simple rooms for interviewing or holding mentally ill patients because of a lack of rooms that are specifically designed for medical workers safety (Fayerman, 2016).

In the incident that occurred in September, two nurses and a guard were injured, who nurses asked to be present for their safety. However, this precaution did not save them but even increased the number of victims. After the request to change into hospital clothes, the patient’s behavior changed radically, and he began to behave very violently. In the incident happened in October, the mentally ill patient was taken to the hospital by police and immediately left by them. The patient in the process of assessment attacked the nurse and beat her in the head. The assessment of the patient also took place in a non-specialized room and without any protection, since even the police did not remain in the hospital until the patient was completely registered (Fayerman, 2016).

In the given case, the reason for the violence was the lack of proper hospital protection, the overfilled of patients and a shortage of working personnel, which the police are not paying attention to and continue to bring patients here, and not just to another hospital. A patient who brutally beat a nurse as a result of a trial was given conditional discharge. Unfortunately, no government action was taken to improve the situation. This fact caused resentment of medical workers and an understanding of the lack of significant punishment for violence in the workplace. This outcome inspires the nurses’ fear of a repeated violence and makes them think about the dismissal.

Regrettably, most of the nurses who have been abused have not officially reported of incidents, because they believe that violence and abuse are part of their work. Nurses are silent of fear and embarrassment. Due to experiencing workplace violence nurses leave the profession causing thereby the nursing shortage. However, ignoring the existing problem affects not only the shortage of skilled workers. Unhealthy working environment negatively affects the performance of the duties by nurses. Unfortunately, society forgets that in the hands of a nurse is not just a syringe or pill, but a human life, and a medical error can become an irreversible cause of the deterioration of the patient’s condition or even worse lead to the death.

References

Fayerman, P. (2016). Violent assaults on nurses by patients continue at Abbotsford hospital. The Vancouver Sun. Web.

Mitchell, A., Ahmed, A., & Szabo, C. (2014). Workplace violence among nurses, why are we still discussing this? Literature review. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 4(4), 147.

Speroni, K. G., Fitch, T., Dawson, E., Dugan, L., & Atherton, M. (2014). Incidence and cost of nurse workplace violence perpetrated by hospital patients or patient visitors. Journal of Emergency Nursing, 40(3), 218-228.

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Violence Against Nurses at the Workplace

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