Proper job climate is among the key factors that make healthcare providers’ work more effective and patient-oriented. Speaking about nurses, it is necessary to mention that being a nursing professional always involves being dedicated to patients and performing the work with regard to high standards. Even though every nurse understands the importance of these principles, some problems in modern healthcare practice act as barriers to success. Nowadays, workplace violence remains one of the most significant issues that nurses face. Patient aggression can result in a traumatic experience, physical damage, and, in certain cases, the loss of labor capacity. Nurses from different hospitals throughout the country become the targets of assaults on a daily basis, which makes nursing one of the most dangerous fields of activity and, therefore, reduces the popularity of the profession among young people.
The problem of workplace violence against nurses is becoming more significant, and it does not only refer to specialists working with mentally ill patients. The necessity to introduce new requirements that healthcare organizations must meet remains a pivotal task if our society is concerned about popularizing the nursing profession. The problem of violence against nurses is recognized by numerous researchers whose works are used in the paper. In particular, your support in solving this issue is needed due to the following facts:
- More than 60% of cases of workplace violence involve patient aggression (Speroni, Fitch, Dawson, Dugan, & Atherton, 2014);
- Almost a half of nurses report “some type of workplace violence during their five most recent shifts” (Phillips, 2016, p. 1663);
- From 60 to 80% of specialists in nursing homes and emergency departments are assaulted weekly (Philips, 2016, p. 1663);
- Verbal assault is not recognized as a form of workplace violence (Phillips, 2016).
As it can be seen from the statistical data collected by modern researchers, new programs and legislation aimed at reducing the prevalence of workplace violence against nurses are required. In terms of the implications for the nursing profession and patients, it is pivotal to note that high rates of workplace violence negatively affect both clients and healthcare specialists. Understanding that it can be difficult to punish clients who use abusive language, nursing professionals can start using practices that run counter to the key nursing values. Another important consideration is that the extent of the problem can be underestimated since many cases of workplace violence remain unreported all over the world (Kvas & Seljak, 2014). Nowadays, many nurses who have experienced workplace violence fail to report such cases in a written form. Apart from that, there are important implications for patients because the cases of workplace violence immediately affect the quality of services provided by nurses. With that in mind, health authorities are required to review and improve workplace violence reporting procedures that are currently used. In this connection, an important area of attention is presented by the reasons why nurses consider reporting to be ineffective.
In the end, there are two important tasks that need to be completed to improve the situation with workplace violence against nurses in the United States. To begin with, new rules for healthcare providers may need to be introduced. In particular, all hospitals should be required to report credible statistical information on workplace violence. The second recommendation touches upon the degree to which the cases of type II violence in healthcare are reported. To ensure the credibility of data, special anonymous surveys may need to be conducted to find out the presence of unreported cases.
References
Kvas, A., & Seljak, J. (2014). Unreported workplace violence in nursing. International Nursing Review, 61(3), 344-351.
Phillips, J. P. (2016). Workplace violence against health care workers in the United States. New England Journal of Medicine, 374(17), 1661-1669.
Speroni, K. G., Fitch, T., Dawson, E., Dugan, L., & Atherton, M. (2014). Incidence and cost of nurse workplace violence perpetrated by hospital patients or patient visitors. Journal of Emergency Nursing, 40(3), 218-228.