Dealing With Stress And Violence In The Workplace

Stress and Violence in the Workplace
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Stress and Violence in the Workplace
Introduction
Working in the healthcare industry comes with its advantages and disadvantages. One of the main disadvantages or issue that appears to resonate with individuals who work in the healthcare industry is violence. Apparently, healthcare professionals are exposed to physical and psychological violence while in their work environments. The main perpetrators include patients, overburdened healthcare facilities, stressed families, other healthcare professionals, among others (Hegney, 2010). Aside from violence, there is stress that resorts from violence and these can indeed impact the productivity and physical health of any professional. Nurses, for example, who are exposed to violence in their workplaces will have lower productivity, high rates of turnover, and increased rates of avoidable medical errors. However, the introduction of the Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CIS) Management Tool is a great addition for an organization that seeks to help their employees deal with traumatic events and situations. An organization needs to ensure that it has a program in place to provide victim assistance to its employees. Exposure to certain incidents could indeed leave employees traumatized and in need of help. By focusing on the CIS management tool, this article seeks to describe some of the reactions to stress while also analyzing the tool’s effectiveness in helping employees deal with stress and violence in the workplace.
What are the physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral reactions to stress?
People react differently to stress especially from a traumatic incident. Some people appear to show no stress after an event while others appear shaken and uncomfortable whenever they see or remember or talk about an incident. The reactions also directly coincide to the kind of event or situation a person found themselves in.
When it comes to physical reactions to stress, it is possible for a person to experience aches and pains without prior sickness. Aside from these, it is also possible for a person to have anxiety attacks, experience difficulty in breathing, and also stress headaches. The body of a stressed individual reacts to what they are experiencing inside their head. This means that some of the pains a stressed person could be feeling could be as a result of their brain’s reaction to a traumatic event or incident.
Cognitive reactions often show or appear in the form of difficulties in the way a person responds, reacts, and reasons. After the occurrence of a traumatic event, it is possible that a person could be found wanting in their reasoning as well as the decisions one makes. It is possible for a person’s productivity to suffer because of the cognitive reactions to a situation or event. These are cognitive reactions which appear to influence a person’s judgment, decision-making capability, and performance.
Behavioral reactions are different and entail visible patterns like sleeping problems, absenteeism, withdrawal, addictive/excessive behavior, unhealthy eating habits, and an increase in appetitive for risk-taking events and behaviors. These are all possible reactions to stress. While in most instances stressed people could be indirectly asking for help, sometimes they could be reacting to what happened to them.
Finally, emotional reactions can also happen after the occurrence of a traumatic incident. Emotional reactions include mood swings, being irritable, restless behavior, crying, sense of loneliness, and also feelings of isolation. These are possible reactions to a stressful event.
Can you name at least three professions that are at risk and would have utilized the tool?
Every profession has its own stressful moments. However, aside from nursing, there are certain professions that stand out in that they expose their employees to certain risks thus making the CIS tool a necessity. These professions include:
* Sports referee – a sports referee is a person who decides games and in certain occasions makes decisions that lifts a team over another. “With constant verbal abuse and death threats, a job as a referee can cause a lot of uneasiness” (Zambas, 2018). Some referees have been victims of physical assault from players and from fans who have often expressed their displeasure at some rules by throwing punches or throwing objects at the referee.
* Firefighter – firefighters, on the other hand, get to encounter near-death moments and also certain moments where they get to see victims perish in their presence. These moments are quite painful and could interfere with a person’s mental state. I believe this profession does need the tool.
* Military personnel – a military personnel who has been in battle knows what it means to lose a friend and a family. Some military personnel never recover from their time in battle and hence it is crucial to consider the CIS tool in the military.
What is the purpose of using the tool?
Davis (2013) notes that “debriefing is a special technique designed to assist others in dealing with the physical or psychological symptoms that are generally associated with trauma exposure.” He continues to say that debriefing ma...