Nursing Workplace Incidence of Violence Essay examples

As health care workers we are under a legal obligation to protect an individual from any kind of abuse, whether it is physical, financial, emotional, sexual or psychological .Legislation, policies and procedures exist to promote a safer working environment and reduce the potential for risks occurring. They are tailored for the needs of each setting, known and understood by employers and employees and reviewed on a regular basis.

According to Purpora and Blegen, approximately 60% of actual errors in patient care result from poor and ineffective communication (para. 3). Horizontal violence causes a decrease in effective communication between caregivers which places the patient’s safety in jeopardy. Horizontal violence decreases staff morale which leaves room for error in the workplace (Longo & Smith, 2011).

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (2000) shows that 48% of all non-fatal work related assaults and acts of violence have occurred in health care and social service settings. Violence against mental health and health care workers has the potential to cause major physical injuries and psychological trauma. In return this poses serious consequences on employers such as increased turnover, medical and psychological care, increased absenteeism, decreased morale, job dissatisfaction, legal issues, and worker burn-out. Agencies and clinicians are encouraged to evaluate and identify the risks that are potential barriers in their agencies. Safety plans need to be implemented and strategized along with re-evaluations on a continuous basis (Taylor, H. 2013).

Nurses continually strive to bring holistic, efficient, and safe care to their patients. However, if the safety and well-being of the nurses are threatened or compromised, it is difficult for nurses to work effectively and efficiently. Therefore, the position of the American Nurses Association (ANA) advocate that every nursing professional have the right to work in a healthy work environment free of abusive behavior such as bullying, hostility, lateral abuse and violence, sexual harassment, intimidation, abuse of authority and position and reprisal for speaking out against abuses (American Nurses Association, 2012).

The trade-off is the alternate policy for lateral violence for the nursing staff. This policy alternatives encompass an effective education and training to create awareness of the issues of LV which should not be tolerated or endure by any staff. Holding health care settings accountable and imposing a zero tolerance policy of LV against nursing staff versus previous policy. The OSHA policy on workplace violence failed to specify violence by type. Rather, LV was placed under the blanket of assaults (hazard) at the workplace, which have created a huge loophole for organizations not to take precautionary measures on LV against nurses. In this case, a mandate must be place to give nurses the avenue to reporting LV

This paper will discuss workplace policy on violence, policy analysis, and interview to a DNP prepared nurse on workplace violence. Organizational stressor is one of the many factors that can contribute to workplace violence. This factors include, inadequate staffing, emotional exhaustion, long working hours, or lateral violence. According to Raynolds, Kelly, & Singh-Carson, 2014) lateral violence is the act that transpires between peers or nurse-to-nurse where verbal abuse, aggression, incivility, or bullying occurs. Health care settings should be places that perpetuate tranquility, respectful and collaborative environment. Hence, a work place where the environment is positive and safe denotes that the principle of non-maleficence exists (Morrison, 2011). Given to this, the writer conducted an interview with a professional colleague; Doctor Sarah Oba to get her opinion pertaining to work place violence against nurses and

Take a moment to imagine that a man has just been admitted to your care from injuries to himself he received while assaulting his wife. The man has absolutely no respect for the female staff and he makes derogatory comments to them each time he encounters them and constantly complains that “women can’t do anything” and that they should just “leave it all to the men to do.” Every time that they try and assist his recovery, he harasses them verbally. While it’s unfortunately a real event that happens, usually the staff, if possible, will arrange itself to combat this behavior. However, for my scenario I imagined an understaffed facility that cannot necessarily cater to this person’s

Laws could be passed throughout the states to limit the violence towards nurses. The biggest solutions that could be helpful could be passing laws and fines to anyone who physically or verbally harms a nurse who is just trying to help them. Giving patients and/or their family members tickets or an official warning to stop their behavior could help control the situation, for nurses should not have to deal with violence because that will only make the process for the patient longer and also for the nurse. Violence will continue to be the nurses largest problem in their workplace. For nurses it will always be hard to deal with patients who do not want to listen to instructions, who simply do not care or patients expressing themselves with

The worker should use interventions to eliminate or diminish violence as needed. If there is an occurrence of violence there should be procedures used to give alleviate any effect to the worker. After the visit is complete the worker should report any violence or potential risks they perceived during their time with the client. By using a protection theory such as the Protection Matrix Model healthcare agencies and institutions can assure a culture of protection to the workers. The use of this model will enhance communication through all levels of organization resulting in safe home visiting for workers. The desired outcome for this change in policy would promote a new outlook on communication within the agency as a whole (Mathiews).

Nurses have many roles that have allowed them to provide safe healthcare for patients every day. The nurse is responsible for treating patients with all types of problems, including abuse. In addition to treating victims and their families who experience violent situations, nurses have also become victims themselves in the workplace. “Workplace violence is any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or other threatening disruptive behavior that occurs at the work site” (United States Department of Labor). Workplace violence against nurses has become an epidemic in today's society because nurses are failing to report violent attacks due to reprimandation from superiors, there is a false idea that violence is “just part

In a strong safety culture, organization has an insistent commitment to safety and do no harm. The safety culture of an organization is the product of individual and group beliefs, values, attitudes, perceptions, competencies, and patterns of behavior that determine the organization’s commitment to quality and patient safety. In safety culture, staff and leaders value transparency, accountability and mutual respect. Behaviors that challenge a culture of safety are not acceptable and need to be reported. In a safety culture, leaders should ensure that intimidating or unprofessional behaviors within the profession are addressed and reported. They need to educate staff and hold them accountable for their professional behavior. This includes the adoption and promotion of a code of conduct that defines acceptable behavior as well as behaviors that undermine a culture of safety. Intimidating and disrespectful behaviors interrupt the culture of safety and inhibit communication, collaboration and teamwork, which is obligatory for safe and highly reliable patient care (Jointcommission.org,

According to the “Guidelines for Preventing Workplace Violence for Health Care & Social Service Workers” (2004) of Occupational Safety & Health Administration, Top-Down approach or Zero Tolerance program can be established to prevent workplace violence in hospital or other health care institutions. Workplace violence must be addressed starting at the top and working down. Workplace violence, verbal and nonverbal threats, and related action policies should be created and disseminated among all managers, supervisors, workers, clients, patients and visitors.

According to WHO, there are between 8-38% of health care workers who experience physical violence and several more experience verbal violence including threats (2016). Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), “Healthcare accounts for nearly as many serious violent injuries as all other industries combined” (2015). Nurses work closely with people who exhibit a history of violence, who are under the influence of drugs; some nurses commute through dangerous neighborhoods to patients’ homes. Nurses’ experience various forms of violence from patients, the patient’s family and loved ones, and sometimes other health care works. The perceived and actual threats are extremely costly to the nurse or healthcare professional, the employer,

I have only been in the healthcare field now for a total of five years and have seen many changes in this relatively short amount of time. All of my experience in this field has been with the Ridgeview Medical Center (RMC) in Waconia, MN so I will be including some examples of my own as well as my wife’s healthcare experiences. I have also spoke with those of some of my friends who are in the healthcare world as well as my coworkers who I have been discussing the topic of “Safe Staffing”.

Successful national policy implementation on healthcare associated workplace violence is achieved through broad culture change. As CMS has targeted focus on the Culture of Safety, the timing is ideal to continue to take steps to further this change. As the goals of a healthcare related workplace violence policy include: a reduction in workplace violence; a system to track and trend high-risk and/or repeat offenders; and an expansion of resources available to victims, the evaluation criteria would draw from the success of the goals. The difficulty in this culture shift is the lack of direct measurability.