Workplace Violence

Workplace Violence
According to an article in the Nursing Management magazine the definition of workplace violence is “any incident in which employers, self-employed people, and others are abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances arising out of, or in the course of, the work undertaken” (Elliot, 1997). People in the health care field experience this type of issue more often than most people may believe. Research shows 35-85% of hospital staff reported that at least once during their careers, they have been physically assaulted (Clements et al., 2005). Health care workers are considered to be among the most vulnerable to violence (Sullivan, Decker, 2009). Working in the healthcare field can be one of
It has been modified, but still aims to protect the well being of the employee. Noncompliance with these guidelines leads to fines, but has never been set in stone as a law. An article published in Nursing World refers to workplace violence as “one of the most complex and dangerous occupational hazards facing nurses” (Lipscomb, McPhaul, 2004). Nurses that practice in hospitals can encounter some of the most highly emotional times of peoples lives. Dealing with the health of people and their family members, brings out emotions people did not even know they had and nurses take the brunt of that anger, anxiety, fear, etc. Nurses are giving direct patient care 24 hours a day and are there to absorb the array of emotions expressed by patients as well as their family members. A Florida survey showed that 100% of employees working in the emergency room reported experiencing verbal threats and 82% reported being physically assaulted (Lipscomb, McPhaul, 2004). The emergency room employees are exposed to a vast array of people experiencing mental health break downs, severe life threatening events, family members at the brink of death, and unfortunately those employees suffer the most violence because of how high the stress levels are at that time for people. Nonfatal assaults are said to
When those incidences are reported, they could be addressed right away and potentially cut down the risk for violence. There is little to no research studies to point managers in the right direction as far as how to prevent violence toward healthcare workers (Lipscomb, McPhaul, 2004). Some researchers offer suggestions on how to cut down on violent situations. One suggestion is that employees should be trained on how to deescalate possible violent situations along with proper steps on how to report a violent outbreak (Clements et al., 2005). To go along with this suggestion, managers should be willing to respond to the situation immediately. Another suggestion would be to have the managers be encouraging staff to report violence, personally follow up on it, and be able to offer the proper counseling if needed (Elliot, 1997). An example would be that if there was a busy evening in the emergency room and an angry waiting family member approaches the desk threatening the triage nurse in a violent manner. The nurse should be trained on things to say to help reassure the patient his family member is very important and the staff is doing everything they can to make sure they get to her as soon as they can. Following the de-escalation,