Workplace Violence in Health Care Morgan L. Hofmeister Baker University School of Nursing Workplace Violence in Health Care Workplace violence is a prevalent issue in today’s society. Workplace violence is defined as a form of conflict that is intentional and causes harm through verbal or physical abuse, threats, persistent harassment, or injury. “Rates of workplace assault are higher for health care workers than for any other industry, specifically nurses working in hospitals” (Gates, Gillespie, Kowalenko, Succop, & Sanker, 2011, p. 304). Due to the the lack of reporting, interventions, and awareness of this issue, workplace violence will continue or escalate if not addressed. This is a historical, ongoing issue with …show more content…
An Emergency Nurses Association study found that, “every week between eight to thirteen percent of emergency department nurses are victims of physical violence” (Trossman, 2010, p. 6). The physical repercussions of violence can include a physical injury, anger, chronic pain, loss of sleep, disability, muscle tension, anxiety, irritability, and nightmares (Gates, Gillespie, & Succop, 2011, p. 60). The reasons and risk factors for these violent encounters are varied and create a lengthy list. Low staff, lack of visitor policies, diagnosis of dementia and Alzheimer’s patients, misperceptions of staff behaviors, lack of training in aggressive behavior, care of psychiatric patients, and release of mental ill patients without proper follow up are all potential factors that may cause workplace violence (Stokowski, 2010). Many times hospitals do not respond to incidences; almost half of the fifteen percent of nurses who have reported physical violence with a physical injury result in no action taken against the offender (Trossman, 2010, p. …show more content…
Reporting of workplace violence is encouraged, but not every state has laws enforced to protect a nurse (Stokowski, 2010). There are some states that are filling in this gap and protecting nurses by passing legislation (Trossman, 2010, p. 6). There are states that have addressed the violence by developing prevention programs, strategies to increase reporting, and gaining more research on the issue (Stokowski, 2010). As of 2010, these states are California, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Washington, and West Virginia (Stokowski, 2010). Then, there are states who have passed legislation for penalty acts against convicted offenders (Stokowski, 2010). As of 2010, these states are Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, and New Mexico (Stokowski, 2010). The American Nurses Association is actively involved in this lack of legislation issue and has created a model state of bill for health care facilities to use to create their own legislation (Trossman, 2010, p.
Assaults in the healthcare setting are recognized as a growing problem. In considering the violence and aggression in mental health units, the larger issue of violence and aggression in mainstream culture must not be ignored. It has been observed that physical attack in a mental health unit setting appear to be happening more frequently while the attacks include patient-to patient and patient-to-staff aggressive behavior. Most commonly, reporting of aggressive behavior toward healthcare staff is noted; however, it cannot be completely explained by patient characteristics or staff member behaviors (Foster, Bowers, & Nijman, 2006). To improve patient control of aggression and violence, an organization must better define the management and reporting of this behavior, identify appropriate management programs and training, and evaluate the frequency and precipitants.
This is largely due to nurses leaving their jobs and/or medical incidents involving patients. A nurse working in an environment lacking civility can create stress and anxiety for the nurse. This, in turn, will lead to poor attitudes, decreased productivity, increased absences, and higher job turnover rates (Kerber, 2015). While working in uncivil environments is unhealthy for the healthcare professionals, it has also been shown to greatly affect patient care. A nurse working in a hostile environment can feel stress and overwhelmed, which can lead to an altered emotional state. Blevins (2015) reports in Impact of Incivility in Nursing that nurses working in this type of environment can “experience stress-related disorders and physical illness” which can decrease work attendance. A nurse or healthcare provider providing patient care in this emotional state can turn their negative feelings into uncivil behavior toward the patient or miss something critical to patient care, leading to patient harm or death. For example, if a nurse is upset about being disrespected from a fellow healthcare worker the nurse might turn her emotions on the patent by not asking the right assessment questions, or writing off a critical detail the patient is reporting. Incivility can also reach the patient level when a nurse is afraid to ask questions regarding patient care to the charge nurse as a result of recent bullying. The opposite is also true; If a patient is being discourteous to a nurse who is being civil and helping to the patient, it might make the nurse unconcerned about patient care satisfaction. This can spiral into an incivility cycle that is hard to
In the early 1980s aggression and violence in the workplace have been a source of a lot of public discussion. (Piquero pg.383) The issues have risen again recently and have mostly been present in management and business fields. Workplace aggression often includes “behavior by an individual or individuals within or outside organizations that is intended to physically or psychologically harms a worker or workers and occurs in a work related”. (Schat& Kelloway Pg. 191) A national survey Conducted by the National Centers for Victims of Crime shows several statistics regarding workplace homicide by type show that is the year of (see fig. 1), violent crimes against victims working or an duty( see fig. 2) and nonfatal workplace violence committed by strangers(see fig. 3
Nurses encounter various challenges in the workplace. One of the most alarming trends is that they often become the victims of physical violence. It should be kept in mind that healthcare settings account for about 60 percent of all violent assaults that occur in various American workplaces (Gates, Gillespie, & Succop, 2011, p. 59). Additionally, more than 50 percent of nurses report that they suffered from physical abuse, at least once (Gates et al., 2011, p. 60). In turn, this tendency makes nurses even more vulnerable to the effects of stress. Moreover, they are likely to feel dissatisfied with their jobs. This paper is aimed at reviewing the scholarly articles that can illustrate the origins of this problem and its impacts on the experiences
...ic violence, as we can see from the previous read information, results in injury. It is a very serious issue for the people within a violent home setting and with today’s legal system domestic violence cases are being taken extremely serious. It is important that we as nurses, if we feel someone is in a violent home setting, to identify these patients and assess as needed. By nurses identifying and assessing victims of violent acts we can help these people and contribute to decreasing the number of violent acts that occur. If a nurse or anyone knows or suspects that someone is being abused, we need to let that victim know there are alternative solutions, choices they can make, and that there is hope to solve the problem at hand. We should also let this victim know that without help, this problem may only get worse and could progress in frequency and severity.
Workplace violence is a frustrating issue confronting businesses today. While more data on the reason for violence and how to handle it is getting known, there is frequently no sensible basis for this sort of behavior and, in spite of all that we know or do, fierce circumstances happen. No superintendent is resistant from working environment brutality and no manager can completely anticipate it.Workplace violence can cause many issues for a business, from extra expense, to how to deal with the problem, and prevent it from happening in the future.
In today's fast paced, stress riddled work environment it is no surprise that the workplace can become a foreground for violence. Employers must be extra careful when hiring and firing employees and stay aware with what is happening in the work environment that surrounds them. Extra precautions must be taken to ensure the safety of all employees in the workplace. Too many times employers do not take the proper steps in preventing workplace violence and the consequences are disastrous. Violence on the job or even after hours can take a very negative toll on an entire business. In order to prevent danger in the workplace, employers must know how to identify potential violence and be familiar with the necessary steps to prevent it from happening.
The issue of workplace violence in nursing was brought into the light after several studies were performed focused on this topic. A chart shown in the United States Department of Labor, 2004, showed the increasing rates of ...
The target population being used for this thesis consists of nurses, nurse managers, and nursing care assistants. The setting will take place at a hospital in Saginaw, MI on three medical surgical floors. Lateral violence in the workplace has been well researched but there have been few studies examining what
In 2012, 4,383 people were killed in work place accidents.463 people died from homicide or 11% of the total number (Bureau of Labor Statistices, 2013). The government has various agencies, such as Occupational safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), The U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration and the Department of Justice in place to protect worker, to ensure the workplace is safe, however for reasons often unknown, we see people resort to violence to solve their problems. In 2014 we have seen a shooting in Seattle, Santa Barbara and Fort Hood.
Violence is all around us; we see it portrayed in one form or another everyday. It has become commonplace to see it on TV and in our own environment. To the average person this has become an acceptable part of life, along with taking personal precautions to prevent it from happening to them. However, there are a small few that need attention and see violence as a way to get their message across. Unfortunately, the media is right there to dramatize it for all to see. As future public administrators we must be aware of potential workplace violence from not only potential customers but from our employees and co-workers as well. We must equip ourselves with the tools necessary to prevent the potential for workplace violence to protect our employees, customers and ourselves. The ability to identify which workplaces have a higher risk factor then others will be to our benefit and add to our effectiveness as an administrator.
Research shows horizontal violence to be prevalent in the field of registered nursing. Although a comprehensive quantity of incidences within the profession is undetermined, the literature is in agreement such phenomenon exists and the effects of which require further scholarly observation and evaluation.
...tion programs, and provide more training for security guards are well as workshops for nurses. This could be implanted in all hospitals making in a job requirement. Thus, having these types of training programs would allow for nurses to feel more confident in their role as a caregiver and allow them fully utilize their skills when working with patients. Also, if patients were aware that nurses received this training they would be less inclined assume authority over their caregiver. To avoid conflict within the nursing profession we must make people aware of what is happening behind closed doors and prepare the professionals to act in response to violence. If nurses continue to be known as vulnerable and accept the violence which is perpetrated towards them, the gender script will not disappear and will continue to progress into a violence workplace environment.
Workplace violence is any action or verbal menacing with the intent to inflict physical or psychological violence on others. The US Department of Labor defines workplace violence as “An action (verbal, written, or physical aggression) which is intended to control or cause, or is capable of causing, death or serious bodily injury to oneself or others, or damage to property. Workplace violence includes abusive behavior toward authority, intimidating or harassing behavior, and threats.”("Definitions," n.d.)
For example, some of the caregivers may professionally responsible on “do not harm” the patients and therefore putting their own safety and health at risk to help the patients and even some of the caregivers would considered violence as “part of the job”. The reason is they have recognized that the injuries caused by the patients are unintentional and therefore they accepted them as routine or unavoidable. Hence, different industry involved different view on the workplace violence, some may refuse to work due to the violence but some may accept the violence as “part of their job” (“Workplace violence in healthcare”,