Causes and prevention of violence toward emergency personnel by patients and their relatives in a province in Turkey.

Abstract

STUDY OBJECTIVE: This research was conducted to determine the opinions of the emergency department's personnel about the causes and prevention of violence directed at them by patients and their relatives. METHODS: This research was conducted between 3 February and 15 June, 2006, in Antalya, a province in southern Turkey, with a total of 216 emergency department personnel who work in the emergency departments of three hospitals. A questionnaire developed by researchers was used to collect data for the purpose of determining what kind of violence is directed at emergency personnel by patients and their relatives and the personnel's socio-demographic characteristics and opinions. Pearson's chi and Fisher's exact test were used in the analysis of the data. RESULTS: Almost all (94.4%) of the participating emergency personnel had been exposed to verbal violence and 59.7% to physical violence. Only 24.5% of those exposed to violence reported the violence. The majority of the personnel (72.5%) thought that individuals' personality tendencies are the primary cause of violence. Their primary recommendation for preventing violence was to increase security measures. Statistically significant differences were found between emergency personnel's place of work and physical violence, between gender and physical violence, and between level of education and reporting violence. CONCLUSION: On the basis of the research results, it is recommended that emergency personnel be trained on the subject of violence, a documentation system be developed for recording and reporting violence, and corrections be made to prevent violence based on the personnel's opinions.