NU 515 Assignment 2: Violence Against Nurses in the Workplace
NU 515 Assignment 2: Violence Against Nurses in the Workplace
Violence Against Nurses in the Workplace
Violence in healthcare, especially directed at nurses, continues to be a huge concern with significant impacts on several parameters of health provision like quality and safety of both patients and providers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that workplace violence continues to rise with events among registered nurses accounting for about 12% of all reported injuries (Bernardes et al., 2018). As such, it is essential for stakeholders within and outside the healthcare sector to develop preventive measures to ensure that nurses are safe so that they can deliver quality care to patients. In their article, Hartley et al. (2019) discuss the importance of raising awareness and other prevention measures that can help address the problem. Again, studies show that ineffective or lack of reporting creates a serious barrier to research and regulatory actions that can mitigate the problem. Lack of reporting arises due to three main reasons that include fear of reprisal and retaliating an ineffective reporting mechanism, and the belief that no action will be taken about such events. However, preventing workplace violence against nurses is critical to attainment of quality and better patient outcomes (Faghihi et al., 2021). The purpose of this paper is to evaluate and summarize research articles that discuss the issue of violent against nurses and healthcare workers and efforts and interventions to address the issue.
In research, the literature review describes existing knowledge about the topic, reveals gaps and further research questions to be answered, and provides a rationale for engaging in a new study. The literature review provides evidence to answer clinical questions and make informed decisions in evidence-based practice. Quality improvement studies also begin with searching the literature to gather available knowledge about a problem and explore interventions used in other settings. The appearance of journals that predatory publishers publish has introduced the danger that reviews of the literature include inadequate, poorly designed, and low-quality information being used as “evidence”—raising the possibility of risky and harmful practice. A helpful literature review requires searching various reliable and credible databases such as MEDLINE (through PubMed or Ovid) and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), among others relevant to the topic. The ease of searching using a web browser (now commonly referred to as “googling”) has increased the risk of finding sources published in predatory. Low-quality journals that have not met the standards of research and scholarship can be regarded as credible and reliable evidence ( Oermann, Wrigley, Nicoll, Ledbetter, Carter-Templeton, & Edie, 2021).
Summary of the Research Articles
In their study, d’Ettorre et al. (2018) conducts a systematic review of articles on workplace violence (WPV) toward healthcare workers (HCWs) in emergency departments (EDs) around the world. The authors reviewed and qualitatively assessed the articles to meet the requirements of their study. Through their analysis using the set criteria, the authors enumerate predictors of violence against healthcare workers perpetrated by patients. The predictors include health conditions like dementia, anxiety, acute stress reaction, schizophrenia, and suicidal thoughts. Further, the researchers found that alcohol and drug intoxication also lead to increased incidences of violence against healthcare workers by patients and their families.
In their analysis and recommendation to address workplace violence against healthcare workers, the authors assert that effective management needs to focus on training courses that aim at several interventions. These include the development of better relationship and interactions between healthcare workers and patients, enhancing communication skills among healthcare workers and accurate and effective reporting of each violent event without any fear of reprisal or retaliation. Further, the study recommends the need to improve the labor situation by the management demonstrating a commitment to and involving employees in development of preventive programs.
The article also opines that management should implement workplace design that reduces stressful conditions in waiting rooms as these are most frequent assault sites against healthcare workers by patients and their families. The findings of the research article demonstrate the need for healthcare providers and organizations to develop multifaceted approach to addressing the issue of violence against healthcare workers by patients and their families. In his study, Al-Qadi (2021) emphasizes the need for stakeholders to develop insights into the issue of violence against healthcare workers so that they can design new research scales that can measure the contributing factors and offer a framework which enables nursing interventions for better management approaches.
The second study by Kremic et al. (2017) examines the impact of encouraging employees’ reporting of verbal violence in primary health care in Serbia, particularly in Belgrade. Using a cross-sectional study involving 1526 employees selected through multi-stage sampling, the authors asses the prevalence and features of verbal violence in primary health care in Belgrade. The authors also identify the contributors of these incidences and how effective reporting can mitigate and motivate employees to address the problem. The findings from the study show that the main form of violence was verbal with patients or clients being the primary perpetrators. The study also found that close 56% of the employee never reported these incidents. The study asserts that among those who did not report, close to 75% believed that reporting does not offer any solution to the problem. The study also found that patient interactions and workplace environment were the primary contributors of verbal violence that the participants experienced in their clinical practice settings.
In their conclusion, the authors stress the need for effective interventions to help reduce and prevent the occurrence of these events. The article asserts that a high prevalence of verbal violence against employees in these settings has undesirable effects. Imperatively, there is need to conduct effective organizational measures that include encouraging employees to report incidents. These interventions can help reduce the prevalence of verbal violence and motivate nurses to perform better and focus on quality care provision.
The third article by Heckemann et al. (2020) is a qualitative study to attain the perspective of nurses and what they can learn from aggression management training courses. The study emphasizes the significance of management training courses on aggression for nurses to reduce aggressive behaviors among nurses and even visitors in healthcare. Using a descriptive approach, the researchers conducted semi-structured individual interviews on seven nurses before and after attending aggression management courses.
The findings show that these courses did not have a significant impact of the nurses’ attitude as dealing with patient and visitor aggression remained a challenge. While the theoretical knowledge on aggression improved, the participants did not acquire new approaches in managing aggression from patients and visitors (Faghihi et al., 2021). However, the study shows that the course activated or refreshed the knowledge that they possess on preventive approaches, interventions and de-escalation strategies. The training also enhanced the nurses’ awareness of their environment and identification of early signs of offending by patients and visitors. Through the training, nurses enhanced their confidence in dealing with possible aggressive circumstances and patients. Conclusively, the article emphasizes the need for aggression management training to enhance knowledge, skills, and confidence for nurses and other healthcare workers to deal with violence or aggressive behaviors from patients and visitors. The study suggests the need to increase training courses on emotional management of aggressive evens for nurses and other healthcare workers.
Recommendations and Conclusion
The type and nature of violence against nurses and other healthcare workers continues to be a concern and efforts should aim at better interventional strategies to protect these employees for effective performance and service delivery. according to Bernardes et al. (2020), violence prevention strategies are important in ensuring that nurses have a safe workplace environment. Further, reporting mechanisms will encourage healthcare workers to report any event and allow the organization to design effective interventions. Training courses raise awareness, knowledge, skills and confidence to deal with such situations, especially how to de-escalate potential violent events. The management should commit to laying the groundwork to mitigate violence in hospitals. They should also remove reporting barriers and take stringent measures to deter patients and visitors from such commissions. Increased reporting, better interactions between patients and nurses and developing training programs are essential in enhancing effective communication to help the stakeholders manage such events and improve quality care delivery.
References
Al‐Qadi, M. M. (2021). Workplace violence in nursing: A concept analysis. Journal of
occupational health, 63(1), e12226. doi: 10.1002/1348-9585.12226
Bernardes, M. L. G., Karino, M. E., Martins, J. T., Okubo, C. V. C., Galdino, M. J. Q., &
Moreira, A. A. O. (2020). Workplace violence among nursing professionals. Revista brasileira de medicina do trabalho, 18(3), 250-257. doi: 10.47626/1679-4435-2020-531
d’Ettorre, G., Mazzotta, M., Pellicani, V., & Vullo, A. (2018). Preventing and managing
workplace violence against healthcare workers in Emergency Departments. Acta Bio Medica: Atenei Parmensis, 89(Suppl 4), 28. DOI: 10.23750/abm.v89i4-S.7113
Faghihi, M., Farshad, A., Abhari, M. B., Azadi, N., & Mansourian, M. (2021). The components
of workplace violence against nurses from the perspective of women working in a hospital in Tehran: a qualitative study. BMC women’s health, 21(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-021-01342-0
Hartley, D., Ridenour, M. & Wassell, J. (2019). Workplace Violence Prevention for Nurses.
AJN: American Journal of Nursing, 119(9):19-20. doi: 10.1097/01.NAJ.0000580228.01504.0b
Heckemann, B., Breimaier, H. E., Halfens, R. J., Schols, J. M., & Hahn, S. (2016). The
participant’s perspective: learning from an aggression management training course for nurses. Insights from a qualitative interview study. Scandinavian journal of caring sciences, 30(3), 574-585. doi: 10.1111/scs.12281
Kremic, M. B. F., Terzic-Supic, Z. J., Santric-Milicevic, M. M., & Trajkovic, G. Z. (2017).
Encouraging employees to report verbal violence in primary health care in Serbia: A cross-sectional study. Slovenian Journal of Public Health, 56(1): 11-17. 10.1515/sjph-2017-0002