Violence on hospital nurses and job satisfaction

ABSTRACT

Workplace violence is a serious phenomenon involving the health care settings, and presents challenges to management. Literature indicates that the majority of nurses experience some form of violence during their work. Managing workplace violence presents a problem which stems from lack of consistency among those perceiving and defining it. The consequences can be devastating, since they affect nurse morale, decrease job satisfaction and alter job performance. The present multidisciplinary study aims at investigating the phenomenon of workplace violence among nurses and its association to their job satisfaction. The main results are that about three quarters of the subjects experienced violence in the workplace. Verbal abuse and psychological/ emotional stressing acts were highly reported by the subjects to define violence, and that the latter one is the most frequent type experienced by nurses. Clients and their relatives, as well as the administrative staff are the most significant perpetrators. The most precipitating factors are violating privacy, inadequacy of available nurses, equipment supplies, and treatments, as well as visits from outside the hospital. Nurses who experienced workplace violence reported their dissatisfaction. About half of them did not like their work, and had the tendency to leave due to violence. Presently, more than a quarter of the sample is searching for a career other than nursing