Violence toward nurses at emergency rooms (ERs) of hospitals of

Abstract

AbstractBackground and AimER nurses are at risk of violence due to the nature of their job and confrontation with a variety ofpatients as well as heavy workload. This can, in turn, leads to decreased quality of care. Thisdescriptive study was conducted to identify prevalence and causes of violence toward nurses at ERsof hospitals affiliated with Medical Universities in Tehran.Methods100 nurses with at least 1 year continuous experience at ER were included in the study. Data werecollected by a questionnaire. The questionnaire contained items including demographics, frequencyand characteristics of violence at work (physical, verbal, nonverbal) and the factors involved.Content and test-retest as well as internal consistency (Cronbach’sU) methods were used forValidity and reliability of the questionnaire respectively. Data were analyzed by version 16 of SPSSpackage.FindingsThe most frequent type of violence was verbal (87%). The frequencies of nonverbal and physicalviolence were 70% and 28% respectively. The most common type of verbal violence was yelling(84%) and, in physical violence, it was throwing objects (33%). In nonverbal violence, insulting andthreatening look (64%) and hitting on the table were very common. Verbal (48.2%) and nonverbal(65.8%) violence was committed mostly over the past month of the study and at nights. The subjects(38%) experienced verbal violence up to 5 times. The most frequent cause of violence (77%) wasthe lack of control over entrance of patients’ relatives. chi test showed a significant relationshipbetween physical violence and night shifts (P 16 Feb 2010-Lanza ML et al (2006). Non physical violence: a risk factor for physical violence in health care settings. A A O H N:Official Journal The of American Association of Occupational Health Nurses .54 (9) 397-402-Lemelin L et al (2004). Workplace violence reported by Canadian nurses. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research. 41(3)152-167.-Pich J et al (2010) Patient-related violence against emergency department nurses. Nursing and Health Sciences 12(2),268–274 hs-525 2274.-Talas M S Kocaoz S Akguc S (2011). A Survey of violence against staff working in the emergency department inAnkara, Turkey. Asian Nursing Research. 5 (4)197-203.-Uzun O (2003). Perceptions and experiences of nurses in Turkey about verbal abuse in clinical settings. Journal ofNursing Scholarship. 35 (2) 81-85.-Yaghmaei F (2007). [Measuring behavior in research by valid and reliable instruments]. 1st edition Tehran: ShaheedBeheshti University of Medical Sciences and Health Services publication. (Persian).