Abstract
BackgroundPrevention and management of workplace violence among health workers has been described in different health care settings. However, little is known about which phenomena the emergency primary health care (EPC) organization should attend to in their strategies for preventing and managing it. In the current study, we therefore explored how EPC personnel have dealt with threats and violence from visitors or patients, focusing on how organizational factors affected the incidents.MethodsA focus group study was performed with a sample of 37 nurses and physicians aged 25–69 years. Eight focus group interviews were conducted, and the participants were invited to talk about their experiences of violence in EPC. Analysis was conducted by systematic text condensation, searching for themes describing the participants’ experiences.ResultsFour main themes emerged for anticipating or dealing with incidents of threats or violence within the system: (1) minimizing the risk of working alone, (2) being prepared, (3) resolving the mismatch between patient expectations and the service offered, and (4) supportive manager response.ConclusionOur study shows a potential for development of better organizational strategies for protecting EPC personnel who are at risk from workplace violence.
Highlights
Prevention and management of workplace violence among health workers has been described in different health care settings
The setting: Norwegian emergency primary health care (EPC) The focus group study was performed among health care personnel with work experience from EPC
Four main themes emerged regarding how the system influenced the incidents of threats or violence (Table 2): (1) minimizing the risk of working alone, (2) being prepared, (3) resolving the mismatch between patient expectations and the service offered, and (4) supportive manager response
Summary
Prevention and management of workplace violence among health workers has been described in different health care settings. Little is known about which phenomena the emergency primary health care (EPC) organization should attend to in their strategies for preventing and managing it. We explored how EPC personnel have dealt with threats and violence from visitors or patients, focusing on how organizational factors affected the incidents. Working in emergency primary health care (EPC) is associated with a high risk of experiencing violence from patients and visitors. Violence against health personnel has been reported as a problem in countries like the UK [4], Ireland [5], Spain [6], Australia [7], Canada [8] and the United States [9]. Similar findings have been reported from other countries [11,12], and this
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