An epidemiological study of the magnitude and consequences of work related violence: the Minnesota Nurses’ Study

Abstract

Aims: To identify the magnitude of and potential risk factors for violence within a major occupational population. Methods: Comprehensive surveys were sent to 6300 Minnesota licensed registered (RNs) and practical (LPNs) nurses to collect data on physical and non-physical violence for the prior 12 months. Re-weighting enabled adjustment for potential biases associated with non-response, accounting for unknown eligibility. Results: From the 78% responding, combined with non-response rate information, respective adjusted rates per 100 persons per year (95% CI) for physical and non-physical violence were 13.2 (12.2 to 14.3) and 38.8 (37.4 to 40.4); assault rates were increased, respectively, for LPNs versus RNs (16.4 and 12.0) and males versus females (19.4 and 12.9). Perpetrators of physical and non-physical events were patients/clients (97% and 67%, respectively). Consequences appeared greater for non-physical than physical violence. Multivariate modelling identified increased rates for both physical and non-physical violence for working: in a nursing home/long term care facility; in intensive care, psychiatric/behavioural or emergency departments; and with geriatric patients. Conclusions: Results show that non-fatal physical assault and non-physical forms of violence, and relevant consequences, are frequent among both RNs and LPNs; such violence is mostly perpetrated by patients or clients; and certain environmental factors appear to affect the risk of violence. This serves as the basis for further analytical studies that can enable the development of appropriate prevention and control efforts.

Aggressive Behavior of Nursing Home Residents Toward Caregivers: A Systematic Literature Review

“…The search was limited to articles with abstracts in German or English and published from 1996 to December 2006. After an initial screening of 72 publications by the first author, the following publications were excluded: (1) those regarding Veterans Health administrations, which are comparable to acute care settings be-cause the residents tend to have psychiatric diagnoses; (2) those in which the research results could not clearly be assigned to aggressive behavior by residents toward caregivers (e.g., research about elder abuse and neglect); (3) those that investigated associations between the illness process (e.g., of dementia) and the occurrence of aggressive behavior without further description of the situation or context in whcich aggressive behavior occurs; and (4) those that were not research based. The remaining 21 articles were rated by the first and the second authors using criteria for the judgment of quantitative and qualitative research reports [15].…”

“…Working in a nursing home or long-term care facility is associated with a high risk of experiencing aggression [3].Studies show that aggressive behavior is more likely to occur among older people with cognitive impairment than among those with no cognitive impairment [2,4,5] although cognitively intact residents also threaten or assault the caregivers [6]. Irrespective of whether demented residents can be held responsible for their aggressive behavior, many gerontological nurses find that physical or verbal attacks by an elderly person they are giving nursing care to is one of the most difficult, emotionally distressing, and potentially dangerous aspects of their work [7], often resulting in feelings of powerlessness, sadness, anger, and ineffectiveness [8].…”

An Epidemiological Study of Work‐related Violence Experienced by Physicians who Graduated from a Medical School in Japan

“…Victims and witnesses can be traumatized; and it can result in work restrictions, quitting jobs, leaves of absence, voluntary transfers, depression, and insomnia 1,9) . Postincident management is also essential to minimize longterm effects among health care workers 5) .…”

“…Education on avoiding from violence should be provided for physicians early in their career. Healthcare workers are at a high risk of being victims of verbal and physical violence perpetrated by patients and their families [1][2][3][4] . There are guidelines to prevent violence at hospitals in some countries 5,6) , and the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare distributed a guideline on safety management including violence and property loss at hospitals in 2006 7) .…”

Differences in risk and protective factors for workplace aggression between male and female clinical medical practitioners in Australia

“…Yet, although there is ample evidence of the prevalence, predictors and effects of workplace aggression in nursing, it has been less studied in medicine. 1,2 In Australian studies, workplace aggression has been identified as an intrinsic part of medical work, with up to 71% of clinicians reporting exposure to non-physical forms and up to 32% of reporting exposure to physical forms in the previous 12 months, with most aggression emanating from patients and their family or carers. [3][4][5] High rates of internal (co-worker) aggression have also been reported in Australian medical settings.…”