Acil Servis Çalışanlarında Şiddete Maruz Kalma Durumunun İncelenmesi

Abstract

Purpose: Workplace violence is a key current issue, and it is clear that emergency departments within hospitals are environments with an elevated risk of exposure to violence. This descriptive study was conducted in Mugla Province to examine exposure to violence amongst health professionals working in emergency departments.Methods: The population of the study included 280 health professionals working within the emergency departments of public hospitals located in the province of Mugla. The sample included 198 health professionals who had agreed to participate in the study. The study data were collected using a questionnaire involving 40 responses which was specially created by the researchers based on relevant previous literature. Data analysis was undertaken by computer using the chi-squared test and by calculating numbers and percentages.Results: Of the participants, 69.7% were female, 76.8% were nurses, and 57.6% had been working in the emergency department for between one and five years. 90.4% had been exposed to verbal abuse, while 23.2% had been exposed to actual physical violence. A majority of the manifestations of verbal abuse came from patients’ relatives. After being exposed to violence, it was determined that workers felt anger, and they felt distant from their work. The rate of notification/reporting of physical violence was 64%, and the rate of receiving psychological support in those that were exposed to violence, was extremely low. It was also found that a majority of healthcare workers thus exposed wished to change the department where they were working.Conclusion: We suggest that the number of precautions for ensuring workers’ safety should be increased, legal sanctions should be made more effective as a deterrent, and programmes for preventing violence should be more effective and well-planned in our country