Workplace Violence towards Social Workers: The Australian Experience

Workplace Violence Process against Emergency Medical Services Staffs: A Grounded Theory

“…In several related studies, serious personal (Bigham, 2013;Esmaeilpour, 2011;Saberinia, 2013), organizational (Esmaeilpour, 2011;Saberinia, 2013), and professional (Bigham, 2013;Esmaeilpour, 2011) consequences and inadequate occupational safety (Furin, 2015) of WPV have been mentioned. In other related studies, minor and serious physical injury (Mechem, 2002;P, 2007;Rahmani, 2012) (wounds, eye and face injuries, bites, dislocations and fractures, bruises, stretch and scratches) (Mechem, 2002) and psychological consequences such as stress (Gates et al, 2011;Mechem, 2002;Shahzad, 2014), irritability (Mechem, 2002), and headache (Koritsas, 2010), anxiety, depersonalization (Bernaldo, 2015), depression, sleep disorders, irritability, fear of safety (Bigham, 2014;Furin, 2015) and disturbing memories (Baydin, 2014) have been mentioned. Psychological injuries cause social consequences, including impact on social interactions, isolation and personality changes in the workplace (Bigham, 2014).…”

“…People (given the critical and intellectual backgrounds) expect that the ambulance should be on the scene immediately after making a call to EMS center. Delay in asking for help (Pourshaikhian M, 2008;Xueling, 2013) and RT (Petzäll, 2011;Sheikh-Bardsiri, 2012), responsiveness (Koritsas, 2010) and lack of therapeutic intervention or rapid transfer of patients (Sheikh-Bardsiri, 2012) are factors affecting delay in RT and are known to be the major cause of WPV. Thus, the establishment of an efficient communication system, the provision of adequate facilities for EMS, public education regarding EMS duties and the consideration of special routes for the ambulance reduce the RT and occurrence of violence.…”

“…Using staff with inadequate general and professional eligibility in dispatch centers and ambulance that cannot be used to manage violence or have no desired psychological balance, predispose them to WPV. In various studies, educational level, eligibility and how to assist the clients (Koritsas, 2010), shortage of specialized staff (Sheikh-Bardsiri, 2012), low experience (Bernaldo, 2015;Koritsas, 2010), insufficient professional training (Baydin, 2014) and low self-esteem (Steffgen, 2008), were reported as the underlying causes of WPV. Also, lack of training program on how to deal with WPV (Baydin, 2014;Pourshaikhian, 2016) and control of violence (Bernaldo, 2015;Brough, 2005;Duchateau, 2002;Petzäll, 2011) have been emphasized.…”

“…In related studies, insufficient skills and eligibility (Pourshaikhian, 2016), negligence (Sheikh-Bardsiri, 2012) and how to respond to client (Koritsas, 2010) were pointed out as stimulus of WPV Therefore, dispatch and ambulance staff should prevent the development of violence by being respectful to clients, provide appropriate services and should be questioned in case of negligence. On the other hand, conditions should be provided stating that the number of missions/day is appropriate in order to prevent the over use of staffs.…”

“…Such jobs, in which health care providers faced with nervous and worry patients or their relatives, are very prone to WPV (Hahn, 2013;Koritsas, 2010) and serious occupational health problems (Blando et al, 2012), resulting in individual (psychological and physical), social and organizational consequences (Shahzad, 2014;Steffgen, 2008). Including the consequences of workplace violence, decrease of well-being and quality of life of staffs (Petzäll, 2011) as well as care of clients (Gates, Gillespie, & Succop, 2011).…”