Workplace Violence In Health Care Essay

1199 Words5 Pages

Violence against healthcare providers is a significant problem that has been receiving growing attention. Incidents of workplace violence are experienced by nurses and physicians on a day-to-day basis, especially in emergency departments. The corollary of this phenomenon has become a significant matter due to the psychological stress it is placing on healthcare providers, hence affecting their efficiency and productivity. We may often undermine the consequences of workplace violence, but studies show that it may cause distress, apathy, rage, disappointment, helplessness, anxiety, self-doubt, and insecurity of healthcare workers. (Öztunç 360-365)Hence, their entire job performance is decreased and absenteeism is increased. This results in …show more content…

According to the World Health Organization, violence in healthcare settings can be physical or psychological. Physical violence is the use of physical force such as kicking, slapping, beating, shooting, punching, biting, against any other person or group, which causes harm to the victim. On the other hand, psychological violence is verbal abuse, that is; hounding, harassment, threatening against another person or group. To sum it up, violence, in whatever form, results in the harm of the mental, physical, spiritual, moral, and social development of the victim. (World Health Organization …show more content…

A study conducted in Turkey in 2013 portrayed the reasons of violence against healthcare workers. Causative factors are intricately intertwined and complex in the way they contribute to emerging violence, but can be broadly attributed to the gap between healthcare providers and patients. Attention should be brought to healthcare providers that there is a lack of communication between them and the patients, and so they should provide accurate, clear, and concise information about the patient's condition, and the approximate waiting period. It is also necessary to corroborate the high stress level that patients are in, which may be overlooked by healthcare providers at times, hence provoking the patient and their family. We must also endorse the judicial system gaps and lack of security measures that are lacking in several hospitals all around the world.