Patient Violence Towards Nursing Personnel

If those who witness horizontal violence taking place or if the nurse being targeted does not speak up, it can keep occurring until the situation starts to have a negative impact on the targeted nurse. The effects can start to show up in the nurse’s work and in patient satisfaction. It can also lead to the nurse leaving their hospital for a new hospital to work for and it can even lead to the nurse leaving the nursing profession for good. Some nurses deal with this type of stress by seeing it as a challenge that they must endure in order to be become hardy and resilient

The incidence of aggression is all too common and most healthcare workers have experienced it at one point or another in their career. Nurses have a 3x higher risk for encountering aggression/ violence than any other health care worker and they have a 1 in 10 chance of being injured by a patient during their careers. (Delaney, J., Cleary, M., Jordan, R., & Horsfall, J. 2001)

Safety is an important factor and is a high priority in healthcare. Kelly, Fenwick, Brekke, and Novaco (2015) shared that workplace violence impairs the staff perceptions of safety. However, both patients and staff are affected by workplace violence in many ways, from physical to emotional aspects. There are many reasons why violence occurs, that will be explained later in this paper. The purpose of this paper is to explain the reason and importance of the chosen phenomenon of interest. Moreover, primary and opposing philosophic viewpoints will be discussed, as well as ways of recognizing and utilizing them in nursing. The ways of knowing patterns in nursing and the utilization of these patterns will be explained, pertaining to nursing care.

The problem has led to poor quality care to patients, burnouts and high staff turnover among the nurses. Statistics indicate that 65%-80% of nurses face this challenge. Nurses who are affected by the violence extend the effects to those whom they closely work with for instance physicians and medical supervisors (Howe, 2001). However, the worst hit population is the patients because they will eventually pay for poor quality services they received. Some succumb to their ailments.

Workplace violence commonly occurs between nurses, between nurses and patient, between nurses and families, or even between nurses and physician. Violence from relatives and friends of patients may occur as a result of frustration with a perceived lack of care or communication (Roche et.al. 2010). According to Woefle and McCaffrey there two consequences of violence (physical and psychological) for nurses and organization. Physical by the mean nurses can possibly experience weight loss, cardiac palpitation, stress, hypertension and irritable bowel syndrome. Psychological by the means of being mentally drain of nurses that can cause danger in giving a quality care.

Haley McCullian, human resources consultant, at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital, is the author of this report. Her role is to identify the problems in the nursing field involving workplace violence in the emergency room. The purpose of this report is to educate the workforce on potential causes, effects, and theories revolving around the current organizational challenge. Workplace violence is a dangerous and complex occupational hazard in today’s health care work environment. It poses challenges for nurses and other health care employees, hospital administration, unions, and health care regulators. Violence from patients, visitors, and coworkers are often tolerated and explained as part of the job in the fast paced, stress filled healthcare care

The topic was selected because lateral workplace violence is a problem student nurses and newly licensed nurses will face and need to be prepared before entering the workforce. These individuals need to possess the skills to handle the conflict on a one-on-one basis. If the conflict cannot be handled, they need to know a superior is available if needed. Confidential reporting is also necessary to prevent retaliation from the perpetrator to the victim.

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).

A study conducted by the Texas Department of State Health Services in August 2016 found that only 40.5% of the nurses surveyed reported acts against them (Texas Department of State Health Services, 2016). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists several reasons for underreporting – fear of retaliation; complicated reporting procedures; ineffective policies, training, or support; and the idea that violence

Nursing profession stand strong with team works and coordination of coworker is essential. When there is violence between the coworkers, it will make the victim nurse less effective to work, feel loneliness, unsupportive, more burden and it gradually increase anxiety at work. Adverse events of horizontal violence has inverse relation with relation between staffs and patient care (Purpora, et al, 2013) which means increase horizontal violence will decrease the good relation between peers and decrease the quality care of the

According to the American Nurses Association (ANA) (2013), violence impact healthcare worker physically, emotionally, and mentally. In addition, the financial and insurance claims will affect the organization legal expenses and staff replacement. Prevention is an essential element to create a safe environment for the workers and the patients. Conducting an annual training for violence prevention, and instructing employees the proper techniques to deescalate or minimize unexpected behavior (Dahlby, 2014).

Nurse-to-nurse lateral violence or incivility profoundly raises occupational stress with physical, psychological, and organizational consequence(Embree, White, & Bruner, 2013). I will discuss issues of incivility, importance to nursing, a scenario, creating a healthful environment, my specialty track, and my conclusion.

To better understand the epidemiology of fatal violence in the health care setting, Goodman and colleagues examined death certificates over a 10¬year period (1980–1990). During this time, 522 health care workers died of work-related injuries, 106 of which were homicides. Twenty-six of those killed were

Lateral Violence began in the culture of the healthcare setting, historically, it has populated by images nurses seen as “handmaidens” in a male-controlled environment (Kelly, 2006, p.23). Power has not been in the nurse’s favor, because of hierarchy, there has not been a culture of professional collegiality, nor advanced the role of nursing. It is often that nurses have yielded to a victim mindset that only facilitates a sense of subjection. As a result, nurses have reported concern about the lack of action taken by managers in addressing lateral violence in the workplace (“Center for American Nurses,” 2008 p. 2).

Along with overflowing patients, the hospital ran out of supplies and sometimes had to steal equipment from other units. Even worse, certain nurses had to return to the hospital after finishing a 12-hour shift because of the lack of nurses, which goes along with the Bradley University’s article mentioning how overworked nurses impact the quality of care for patients negatively. From a different perspective, Ken Kesey explains how conflict towards nurses coming from trauma patients affects the staff. Often times, they are unprepared to deal with a situation such as a violent patient and can end up