Violence toward nurses at emergency rooms (ERs) of hospitals of
Advances in Nursing & Midwifery,
Vol. 22 No. 77 (2013),
25 April 2013
,
Page 32-38
Abstract
Abstract
Background and Aim
ER nurses are at risk of violence due to the nature of their job and confrontation with a variety of
patients as well as heavy workload. This can, in turn, leads to decreased quality of care. This
descriptive study was conducted to identify prevalence and causes of violence toward nurses at ERs
of hospitals affiliated with Medical Universities in Tehran.
Methods
100 nurses with at least 1 year continuous experience at ER were included in the study. Data were
collected by a questionnaire. The questionnaire contained items including demographics, frequency
and characteristics of violence at work (physical, verbal, nonverbal) and the factors involved.
Content and test-retest as well as internal consistency (Cronbach’s
U) methods were used forValidity and reliability of the questionnaire respectively. Data were analyzed by version 16 of SPSS
package.
Findings
The most frequent type of violence was verbal (87%). The frequencies of nonverbal and physical
violence 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 and
threatening 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%) was
the lack of control over entrance of patients’ relatives. chi test showed a significant relationship
between physical violence and night shifts (P<0.001) and between female sex of nurses and physical
violence (P<0.005).
Conclusion
ER nurses usually face with violence in a week and the most frequent types are verbal, nonverbal
and physical, leading to decreased speed in delivering efficient care to patients and decreased
quality of health care resulted from it.
Keywords
: Violence, Nurse, Emergency rooms (ERs).Corresponding Author
: Moshtagh Eshgh Z, Faculty Lecturer, Department of Nursing, Faculty ofNursing and Midwifery, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Email:
Zmoshtagh@yahoo.com
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