section_path: Occupational hazards/Workplace violence
section_name: Workplace violence
paragraph_text: Workplace violence
  
  Nurses are at risk for workplace violence and abuse. Violence is typically perpetrated by non-staff (e.g. patients or family), whereas abuse is typically is by hospital personnel. In the US in 2011, 57% of nurses reported that they had been threatened at work; 17% were physically assaulted.
  
  The three types of workplace violence that nurses can experience are: physical violence (hitting, kicking, beating, punching, biting, and using objects); psychological violence (threats or coercion); sexual violence (attempted/completed non-consensual sex act).
  
  Workplace violence can be in another way: interpersonal violence and organizational coercion. Interpersonal violence is committed by workers or patients and their families. Its predominant form is verbal abuse. Organizational coercion may include excessive workloads, mandatory shifts, involuntary placement in another part of the workplace, low salaries, denial of benefits/overtime, poor working environment, and other stressors. These issues affect quality of life. Managers who lack understanding of the severity of these problems and do not support workers increase worker stress.
  
  Many factors contribute to workplace violence. These factors can be divided into environmental, organizational, and individual psychosocial. The environmental factors can include the specific setting (for example the emergency department), long patient wait times, frequent interruptions, uncertainty regarding patients' treatment, and heavy workloads. Organizational factors can include inefficient teamwork, organizational injustice, lack of aggression- and stress-management programs, and distrust between colleagues. Individual psychosocial factors may include nurses being young and inexperienced, previous experiences with violence, and a lack of communication skills. Misunderstandings may also occur due to the communication barrier between nurses and patients. An example of this could be patients' conditions being affected by medications, pain, or anxiety.
  
  Workplace violence has many causes. The most common perpetrators of harassment or bullying of nursing students were registered nurses including preceptors, mentors, and clinical facilitators. However, the main perpetrators of workplace violence against nurses were patients. 80% of serious violent incidents in health care centers were by patients.
  
  Workplace violence has many effects. It has negative emotional and physical impacts on nurses. They feel depersonalized, dehumanized, worn out, and stressed out. Nurses have reported burn-out due to frequent exposure to this violence.