[Workplace violence against nurses from the viewpoint of patients]

Introduction: Workplace violence against nurses is a complex phenomenon and many factors are involved in its creation. Also, until now only the viewpoint of nurses about this phenomenon were investigated. So, the aim of present study was to investigate the perception of patients about the nature of workplace violence against nurses in Tabriz educational centers

Methods: In this descriptive study 384 patients who hospitalized in medical -surgical wards of Tabriz educational centers in 2012 were participated using simple random method. The data gathering instrument was a modified version of workplace violence in health sectors designed by World Health Organization. Data analysis was performed using SPSS [version 13] software

Results: Patients reported 204 occurrence of workplace violence during their hospitalization in verbal [66.2%], cultural [19.1%], sexual [9.8%] and physical [4.9%] types. Patients and their companions were the most actors of workplace violence. Most frequent reason for workplace violence was inappropriate encounter of health care personnel with patients and their companions and most frequent reaction of nurses to workplace violence was doing nothing

Conclusion: Results of this research confirm the high prevalence of workplace violence against Iranian nurses. It seems that maybe by enhancing communication skills of nurses, education of patients and stiff follow up of violence instances the high prevalence of workplace violence against nurses may decrease

[Physical violence in working environments: viewpoints of EMT personnel in east Azerbaijan province]

Emergency medical technician [EMT] personnel encounter with their patients in stressful situations which may result in workplace violence [WPV] against them. There is no relevant study undertaken to investigate physical WPV against Iranian EMT personnel yet. Therefore, the present study was designed to determine the nature of physical WPV toward EMT personnel in East Azerbaijan Province [EAP]. This descriptive study was undertaken in 2008, with a sample of 160 EMT personnel drawn from pre-hospital settings in EAP. They were selected by census sampling. Data were gathered through a posted questionnaire [with a response rate of 86.25%] consisting of participants' social and personal characteristics, the prevalence of physical assaults and violence incidence's relevant factors from their point of view. All statistics were computed using the SPSS software [version 13]. Results showed that 37.7% of respondents experienced physical assault during the previous year. The most frequent response to physical WPV was [to invite the offender to calm down] [52.9%] since they considered it useless to follow up the case [34.1%].The study reveals the high frequency of violent events on EMT personnel in EAP, compare to other countries. To make the violence level against personnel down, public education and continuing education for EMT personnel is recommended