Violence In The Health Care Setting

In a profession where others' health and well-being are priority, there leaves room for neglect of those who are delegated to care for these people. As a professional nurse, there are many obstacles that arise and affect the care provided to a patient, as well as the livelihood of the nurse. The current deteriorating and unsafe staffing conditions in hospitals and other institutions prompts workplace advocacy as the universally appropriate concept for maintaining professional nursing practice.  Common

When people think about nurses, many ideas come to mind. They think of the hideous old starched, white uniforms, a doctor’s handmaiden, the sexy or naughty nurse, or a torturer. The media and society have manipulated the identity and role of nurses. None of these ideas truly portray nurses and what they do. Nurses are with the patients more than the doctors. People do not realize how little they will encounter the doctor in the hospital until they are actually in the hospital. People quickly realize how important nurses are. Because nurses interact with their patients constantly, nurses are the ones who know the patients best.

nursing literature has covered the issue and effects of lateral violence (Patterson, 2007). Moreover, in response to researchers’ exploration of the origins of horizontal violence, theories have been developed. Freire’s theory of oppression stems from nursing’s history during the early 1900s (Purpora, 2012). Historically, nurses have functioned in a hierarchical environment where physicians dominated nurses, and nursing work was devalued compared to physicians’ work (Purpora, 2012). From this perspective, nurses feel oppressed and handle their irritation by averting it toward others, thus creating horizontal violence (Purpora, 2012). Furthermore, this theory’s relevance has been proven in current nursing through a research study finding a positive connection between horizontal violence and nurses’ beliefs and feelings of oppression (Purpora, 2012).

money in recruitment and education. Moreover, bullying also affects continuity of care with patients and may result in sentinel events as well as legal action against the clinician, and facility

Horizontal violence is not a topic that medical faculties discuss on a day-to-day basis, but it is an enormous problem within the health care system. In this research the author looks at bulling from a registered nurse (r.n.) aspect .The effects on patient centered care can be detrimental for patients and r.n.’s. The work place needs to be a safe place for not only the patients but also the employees. With the rise of new graduate nurses who are employed by the medical facilities, they too are starting to face horizontal violence within the first year on the job, which leads to retention of nurses in the medical field. Horizontal violence will continue to arise if nurses do not stand up to bullying and empower victims to speak up on

The goal of this research was to quantitatively describe the occurrence of healthcare worker directed violence, describe how the violence is dealt with, and describe the consequences to the healthcare worker. This research was performed at a general hospital in Sweden using a cross-sectional survey that was dispersed to many types of healthcare workers ranging from physician to physical therapist to nursing assistant and midwife. The Survey of Violence Experience by Staff (SOVES-G-R) was given to 4,845 workers that had patient contact and 2,495 surveys were returned. Three categories are looked at using the SOVES-G-R including: individual characteristics, interactions, and organizational work environment. Results of these surveys showed that violence was seen by workers in all areas of patient care, often when medical or therapeutic interventions were taking place. The interventions used by the healthcare workers were also documented and found to be very inconsistent throughout the hospital, showing that the lack of education on avoidance of violence and de-escalation of violent patients was a problem that needs to be addressed throughout the healthcare

Lateral violence in the nursing profession obviously affects the nurse or nurses being targeted greatly. It is thought that nurses display this violence because in their careers they feel as though they do not have enough power and seem to be near the bottom of the healthcare team hierarchy. As a result, one often sees nurses take this resentment out on one another (Roberts, 2015). When one’s perception is that he or she has little power what will his or her most likely reaction be? Blair (2013) states that a lot of nurses demonstrate lateral violence in some form as a means of feeling like they have obtained some power. Nurses should be taking what power they do have and using it in a positive manner rather than belittling colleagues. Nursing entails a lot of teamwork and interaction among each other and it would be a shame to allow lateral violence

In the medical field, the workers are highly trained to be able to make a distinction between what is right and what is wrong. Elder abuse is becoming a serious issue in the health environment. As defined in the website, MedicineNet.com, elder abuse is: “the physical, sexual, or emotional abuse of an elderly person, usually one who is disabled or frail”. The older population consists of people over sixty-five years old. They are very fragile and sometimes they are forgotten or abused. The elderly can be victims of mistreatment in nursing homes, hospitals, or even in their own house. Nursing is the act of promoting health for others, and of providing care and security with the skills nurses have acquired. However, those who are nursing

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.

Workplace violence (WPV) has been an increasing problem for many years, but it is hitting the healthcare profession hardest.(1) A crime survey done in 2014 by the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety (IAHSS) found that violent crimes in the US healthcare system increased by 25% from 2012 to 2013.(2) Nearly 24,000 assaults in the work environment occur every year, with nearly 70-75% occurring to healthcare providers alone.(3, 4) Due to this increased risk of assault while working, healthcare workers are nearly 4 times as likely to need time off of work due to an injury caused by workplace violence than any other cause (i.e. illness, family leave, etc).(3) In a 2001 document from the United States Bureau of Justice, it was reported that 1.62% of physicians were assaulted (16.2 assaults per 1,000), 2.19% of nurses were assaulted (21.9 assaults per 1,000 nurses), and 0.85% of other healthcare workers (with varying job titles) were assaulted (8.5 assaults per 1,000 employees).(5) In 2011, the United States Bureau of Justice measured the workplace violence rate for nurses to be 3.9% (3.9 assaults per 1,000), almost doubling the numbers from 2001 in just 10 years.(1) The United States Bureau of Justice also reported that of the 100 fatalities that occurred in the workplace of healthcare and social service employees in 2013, 27 of the fatalities were due to violent attacks and assaults.(4)

Health care workers in Canada face a vast amount of harassment in the workplace, and the safety of these employees are not being improved. The neglect of employee rights in the workplace is an example of employees rights not being respected. Many nurses and personal support workers have been experiencing abuse, sexual assault, and harassment because the government and hospital fail to implement laws to provide them a safe work environment. These assaults are carried out by their patients, for example, registered practical nurse, Dianne Paulin, was pinned against a door with a chair and was repeatedly assaulted by a patient. In addition to the harassment, awareness of this issue is being discouraged and it is said that nobody is allowed to talk about the issue because of the fear of the hospitals retaliation. Employees feel as if they cannot speak up

If a nurse purposely does not relay information, the patient can develop a condition that could have been prevented (e.g. pressure ulcers, incontinence, nosocomial infections). Promoting and Implementing Civility in Nurses Promoting civility can be described as showing respect toward another person. However, the problem with bullying, is it cannot be reversed with one simple approach. Healthcare organizations need to be restructured to solve the problems that take place in their facilities (Granstra, 2015).

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).

Lateral violence in the professional practice of nursing is an old phenomenon born out of the construct of nurses being oppressed by their mentors from the early unset of their nursing

Before televisions existed, newspapers did, and before newspapers, telegraphs. Technology is continually making the world smaller. News and other information are now being disseminated into the public at a startling rate. No longer do people have to wait for the telegraph or a newspaper to arrive at their door, they simply click a button and information comes pouring out. While technology has greatly connected the vast wealth of the world’s knowledge and made it easier to access, it also has some downsides. Todd Schwartz, the author of “American Jerk: Be Civil, or I’ll Beat you to a Pulp,” believes excessive usage of cell phones and other recent technology has led to the increase in incivility, yet he fails to acknowledge another downside of