Nursing Research Workplace Violence in Health Care Settings

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Introduction.
Nurses are on the forefront lines and at the backbones in the health care sectors. Workplace violence has become an essential issue that is present in all organizations. Violent behaviors, particularly that of bullying are harmful and affect the patients, staff, and outcome of service. Violence is referred to as any incident resulting in physical or emotional injury. According to several studies, many nurses in the mental and emergency department within the healthcare sectors is at higher risk as compared to other staff who are facing violence from their clients, visitors, and their families (Hesketh, et.al., 2003). When people think of workplace violence, they tend to think of scenarios similar to those exhibited in the movie Falling Down, of the year 1993, starring Michael Douglas. The movie envisions an emotionally labile individual suffering from multiple relational and personal problems. When the person unexpectedly loses his job, he goes berserk, snaps and go out on a shooting rampage.
In fact, the expression going postal came into being in reaction to several incidents of workplace violence that involved discontented U.S. employees from the Postal Service. Even though incidents as such do occur quite often, most instances of workplace violence have little resemblance to these horrible actions. However, violence happens in the workplace much more frequently than many persons might imagine. In fact, in America, 1.7 million workers are victims of workplace violence yearly. This includes the workers who die on duty or on duty in the U.S. annually, which totals to about 700. Workplace acts of violence vary depending on a number of circumstances. There is a minimum of identifiable kinds of workplace violence. Every type affects individuals, firms, and industries in a different way. Besides, each variant needs a different set of countermeasures and precautions.
How to Prevent Workplace Violence in Healthcare Settings
The Emergency Nurses Association conducted a research that found out that zero- tolerance and reporting policies were associated with a reduced risk of verbal abuse and physical violence. Nurses will less probably experience workplace violence if the hospital leadership is committed to managing and preventing. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Joint Commission have formed a pact to provide health care organizations with training, guidance and information resources (VandenBos, et.al., 1996). Every resource stresses on the benefits of a strong culture of safety in averting workplace violence, starting with the leadership support and commitment. By showing “zero tolerance” for violence, taking records of incidents weightily and making sure that corrective actions are undertaken, the board can assist in reducing the risk of violence to their workers. Obviously, in healthcare settings, the leadership and management will play a very key role in the prevention and the management of violence in the workplace. The reduced violence reflects on increased staff esteem and creating a motivated work environment (McPhaul, et.al., 2004).
Adopting and promoting a reparation and prevention policy against harassment is one of the effective measures towards preventing workplace violence. When health care management develops a prevention policy encompassing every level of the healthcare system, that is, the employees, management, and union representatives; there will be guided actions within the systems – which enhances fairness, justice and protective procedures against violence. Such policies developed by the management must be guided by the all the stakeholders and the organizational culture, mission and vision. Policies with asserted authority shall enable the leadership to manage violence and even ensure justice to the victims while sending strong measures to the perpetrators (Chen, et.al., 2008). The policy development team can consult other organizations and make reference to the Internet so as to come up with a comprehensive policy. The leadership must also ensure that the policy is broadly distributed, and that all employees know about it and encourage all their workers to own the policy. Besides, the nursing leadership can put systems in place that record all deeds of violence by establishing, for example, an Event Record Form....