Abstract
:Background:Workplace violence against female nurses is an increasing problem. In addition, recognizing the rights of patients can reduce such violence against female nurses. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to investigate workplace violence against female nurses in respect of patients' bill of rights at two public hospitals in Ilam in 2012.Methods:In a descriptive cross-sectional research, workplace violence against female nurses was studied. Data were gathered employing a researcher made questionnaire filled out by 106 female nurses. The questionnaire was on workplace, physical and verbal violence of patients and their attendants, and also the patients' rights as respected by nursing staff. Permission of university ethics committee was obtained. Data analyses were done by T-test and ANOVA in SPSS software. Results:Totally, 90.6 % and 15.1 % of the participants were subjected to verbal and physical assaults by patients, respectively during last year of the study. Further, 92.5% and 11.3% of nurses experienced verbal and physical assaults by the patients' attendants, respectively. Most of the nursing staff believed that reporting aggressive attacks to the concerned officials would not be useful. A negative significant correlation was found between the aggressions of patients with age as well as marital status of nurses, (P= 0.04). Furthermore, a significant association was seen between physical violence of patients and the nurses’ recognition of the patients' bill of rights (P= 0.03). Conclusions:Due to high rate of violence against female nurses, some proper and effective actions such as employing a trained security force along with legal punitive charges against violators through responsible officials are highly suggested.
Highlights
A hospital-based health care system should obey the rights of patients and their families,[20] which in turn can result in the reduction of workplace violence against staff
Our results showed that 83.1%, 22.1%, 88.3%, and 31.2% of nurses and nurse assistants had experienced verbal or physical violence by patients/their attendants
Our results showed that verbal and physical assaults of patients’ attendants were much more prevalent than that of the patients themselves
Summary
L iterature shows that societies are becoming more violent, and the degree of aggressiveness at workplace is globally increasing as well.[1,2] Workplace violence is a disturbing problem for many health care practitioners around the world,[3] which includes intimidation, verbal or physical threats, physical attack, property damage, and even sexual harassment.[4,5,6] Administrations’ reports demonstrate that nurses are at higher risk (about three times) of workplace assaults than other professions.[7,8,9,10,11] By workplace violence, health care delivering process is degraded and leads to a hostile environment which jeopardizes the goal of providing proper care.[12,13,14,15] Unsatisfied staff will enhance indirect costs of health system through job turnover, decreasedJ Inj Violence Res. 2017 Jan; 9(1): 1-6. doi: 10.5249/ jivr.v9i1.779Journal homepage : http://www.jivresearch.org productivity, absenteeism, and decreased productivity of health team, which all can be related to unresolved issues of workplace violence.[16,17,18,19] A hospital-based health care system should obey the rights of patients and their families,[20] which in turn can result in the reduction of workplace violence against staff. L iterature shows that societies are becoming more violent, and the degree of aggressiveness at workplace is globally increasing as well.[1,2] Workplace violence is a disturbing problem for many health care practitioners around the world,[3] which includes intimidation, verbal or physical threats, physical attack, property damage, and even sexual harassment.[4,5,6] Administrations’ reports demonstrate that nurses are at higher risk (about three times) of workplace assaults than other professions.[7,8,9,10,11] By workplace violence, health care delivering process is degraded and leads to a hostile environment which jeopardizes the goal of providing proper care.[12,13,14,15] Unsatisfied staff will enhance indirect costs of health system through job turnover, decreased.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
