Violence Episodes and Responses of Emergency Room Nurses

Kim, Su Yon; Eom, Miran; Oh, Hee Young; Ahn, Hye Young

Abstract

PURPOSE: The purpose of study was to identify violence episodes by patients and/or their guardians and responses from emergency room nurses. METHOD: A convenient sample of 172 emergency nurses was selected from general hospitals with more than 200 beds. A survey design was used and data were collected from October 2 to October 11, 2006. using self-report questionnaires which were developed by the authors. Descriptive statistics, with the SPSS PC program were used to analyze the data.
RESULTS
The majority of nurses (97.1%) had experienced violence by patients or their guardians in the previous month. Violence offenders who were drunk comprised 68.6% of total offenders. Causes of violence were delays in examination and treatment (59.9%). The major coping behavior in dealing with violence episodes was ignoring (40.1%). Responses to violence experienced by emergency nurses were rated as 2.39. Response to violence according to general characteristics of the nurses showed no statistically significant differences.
CONCLUSION
Considering the high prevalence of violence experienced by emergency nurses, hospitals must develop and manage preventive education programs and policy.