Abstract

Workplace violence incidence rates are increasing in the medical field. The staff in the emergency department (ED) is especially prone to these workplace violence events due to patients arriving in such unpredictable states. Alarmingly, most medical staff members report experiencing some type of workplace violence, whether that is verbal, physical, or sexual violence. The former director of the Parkland ED sent out a survey to the ED staff regarding workplace violence. Out of 145 participants that completed this survey, 121 participants reported that they had personally experienced a workplace violence event. This survey data illuminates that a change is warranted within the department. As an aspiring Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP), this safety concern for nurses led to the formation of the PICOT question: In emergency department nurses (P), how does the implementation of workplace violence interventions (I) compared with current practices (C) reduce the number of workplace violence incidents (O) in a 3-month period (T)? Emergency departments should consider a proactive approach by implementing a prevention-focused educational program (Gillespie et al., 2014). This program would make the nurse more aware of subtle behaviors that signal that a patient is becoming violent. Hopefully, educating and uplifting ED nurses and preparing them to be as safe as possible with violent patients and their families will not only increase their job satisfaction and work productivity, but will also benefit their patients through them becoming empowered to provide the best patient care possible.

Date of publication

Spring 4-25-2021

Document Type

MSN Capstone Project

Language

english

Persistent identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10950/3697

Degree

Master of Science in Nursing

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