Violence Against Nurses Working in the Emergency Department: A Literature Review

Abstract

Nurses working in the emergency department are experiencing frequent episodes of violence by patients or from their significant others. The purpose of the review was to investigate the phenomenon of violence against nurses working in the Emergency Department. Α literature review was conducted in Greek and international journals. A thorough web search was carried out in PubMed, Scopus/Elsevier and Google Scholar databases. The rates of violence against nurses are increasing. Aggressive people abuse healthcare professionals either psychologically or physically affecting both the victims and the hospital. Patients’ and their significant others’ aggression is mainly due to alcohol use and drug abuse, to any mental illness, to the long waiting time as well as the overcrowded emergency department, to various biological, psychological, social and environmental factors, and the lack of education against violent behavior from the part of healthcare professionals. Violence has various consequences, either temporary or permanent, both for the healthcare professionals and for the hospital. There are several warning signs of violent behavior and there are also many measures have been taken at the organizational and individual level, but it has not been established that such measures are effective. Violence against nurses continues to affect their mental and physical well-being but also hampers their job. Despite the efforts that have been made in order to eradicate violence in healthcare workplaces there are not yet globally established effective methods to deal with violence in the ER. So violence remains a major problem for healthcare professionals.