VIOLENCE AGAINST NURSES IN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS OF URMIA UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS IN 2013

Today, workplace violence (WPV) is one of the most complex issues of healthcare
systems. The nurses, due to their central role in the health care team and consisting a very large
population of hospital personals, are repeatedly exposed to violence, especially in Emergency
Departments (EDs). Therefore, we decided to conduct a study to determine the extent and nature of
violence perpetrated against nurses in EDs of Urmia university hospitals.
Materials & Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted on 120 nurses in EDs of Urmia
university hospitals (Imam Khomeini, Ayatollah Taleghani, Motahari and Seyed Al-Shohada). Data
collecting instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire with 35 items in 2 parts: Demographic
characteristics and WPV. After entering the collected data to the SPSS (19) software, data analysis was
performed by using descriptive and analytical statistics (Chi square and Fisher's exact test).
Results: The highest rates of violence against nurses include verbal violence (92/5%), physical violence
(34/2%) and verbal threats (31/7%). The main perpetrators of violence against nurses associated with
patient’s companions (relatives or friends) (73/8%). 66/4% of nurses did not report exposure to violence
to hospital authorities. Also, none of the nurses had received training or instruction on how to deal with
violence.
Conclusion: Due to the frequent exposure of nurses to WPV in EDs, effective steps should be taken to
reduce this neglected problem of healthcare systems, such as: training and instructing the nurses about
how to deal with violence, using written papers to report violence, improvement of laws and regulations,
paying more attention by authorities to this issue, and using mass media for public education and
promoting the culture of communication with hospital staff.