Literature review
Over the past number of years, the issue of violence has generated a lot of concerns in the workplace. Different sectors experience different levels of workplace violence with 85 percent of non-fatal assaults occurring in retailing and service industries. The health care sector falls under the service industry and workers in this sector are at higher risks of workplace violence. It becomes hard to estimate the true incidence of violence towards health workers because of different definitions and data collection systems (Hartley, D., & Ridenour, 2011 #1).
Violence among health workers triggers most psychological and physical outcomes. Some of the physical assaults caused by the issue of violence include bruises and broken body parts. In addition, most victims of workplace violence report emotional effects. Health care institutions should implement programs aimed at preventing violence in the workplace in order to deliver quality services to patients and promote effective health care practices (Cooper and Swanson, 1999 #2).
People suffering from mental health disorders, drug and alcohol use, possession of weapons, and inability to cope with situations increase risk factors associated with violence in the workplace among healthcare workers. The research results indicated that environmental factors, workers, workplace settings, and nature of the perpetrator form riskiest factors to violence in the workplace. Carrying telephones, self-defense, calling upon perpetrators to stop the violence act, self and social support, and less interaction with perpetrators are the main remedies for controlling violence in the workplace among healthcare workers (Gillespie, Gates, Miller, & Howard, 2010 #3).
Workplace violence affects not only healthcare providers but also the society as a whole. The Dallas community in Texas faces significance effects of violence in healthcare facilities because it interferes with the effective delivery of healthcare services. A review by the Critical Incident Response Group on workplace violence came up with four main types of workplace violence. These are violence caused by an employee to a customer, violence against co-workers, violence committed by people visiting the workplace, and violent acts by criminals (U.S. Department of Justice, 2001 #4).
Many studies have investigated the level of vulnerability to healthcare providers on issues of violence in the workplace. Healthcare providers working in hospitals are at higher risks of experiencing workplace violence because they deal directly with patients and their relatives. Almost two-thirds of the 600 physicians and nurses claim to have undergone one form of workplace violence. Nurses face more risks of violence compared to doctors (Algwaiz & Alghanim, 2012 #5).
Healthcare providers also raise their voices concerning the type of treatment they face from patients and their caretakers. People in the community demand access to preventive health care in order to improve their well-being. Texas Healthcare Department understands the healthy needs of their people and has introduced two programs that offer services to low-income women. Despite the efforts made by a health care sector in improving health conditions of women, nurses still give testimonies on how they undergo violence in the workplace. Most complain of assailment from patients and their families leading to serious physical injuries (Cropley, 2013 #6).
The following research will go deep into the matter and investigate the impact of implementing penalties for assault among health care providers. The most affected areas are the Emergency Departments (ED). ED nurses face more physical assaults from patients although most researchers concentrate on the effect towards nurses and patients, but fail to investigate on the issue of productivity. Implementing tougher penalties for assault helps streamline the healthcare sector on the issue of violence in the workplace. Hospitals where tough penalties towards violent people are applied have recorded reduced cases of violence towards healthcare providers (Kaiser Health News, 2010 #7)
On the other hand, violence in the workplace amongst healthcare providers impacts the productivity of individual employees. Productivity is a vital aspect of any organization because it helps in determining growth and development in terms of goal achievement. Past researchers investigated the impact of workplace violence in the healthcare sector and the impact on stress and productivity. A research by Gates, Gillespie, and Succop revealed that workplace violence causes more stress to healthcare providers than any other form of mistreatment. Presence of stresses among health providers contributes to low productivity and poor patient outcomes (Gates, Gillespie, and Succop, 2011 #8).
Violence in the workplace among healthcare providers is a problem affecting most countries globally. Lack of effective measures by the government, the healthcare institutions, the healthcare providers, and the society contributes to the increased violent incidences. Violence prevention should focus on three main aspects: control of the physical environment, staff education and development and hospital organization. Health care facilities can implement various measures that help prevent workplace violence (Stathopoulou, n.d #9).
The research will investigate the most appropriate programs that can help reduce incidences of violence in the health care. Most studies have focused on observation and secondary data in evaluating the impact of violence in the workplace among healthcare providers. Confidential questionnaires form the best method of establishing cases of violence among health care providers (Glanz, Rimer, Viswanath, & Orleans, 2008 #10).
Individual vulnerability and presence of vulnerable populations also contribute to the cases of violence in the workplace towards healthcare providers. Vulnerable populations consists of different kinds of people with many problems like poverty, mental problems, and poor health. These kinds of people have higher chances of causing harms to healthcare providers if their demands are ignored. The reluctant nature of the government in improving lifestyles of vulnerable populations contributes to the high rate of workplace violence experienced by health care workers (Chesnay, 2005 #11).
Patients and visitors account for a number of violence in the workplace among healthcare providers. Violence in the workplace contributes to a number of risk factors and health care institutions should seek protective strategies. Medical experts should establish and evaluate the impact of violence prevention programs in order to avoid violence instances in the future. The main causes of violence among the target populations included shortage of staff, delays in waiting line, and unmet patient’s demands. In addition, poor healthcare services contribute to violence among healthcare providers (McPhaul, London, Murrett, Flannery, Rosen, and Lipscomb, 2008 #12).
Most health care experts believe that violence in the workplace is a significant yet controllable public health problem. Intimate partner violence (IPV) was termed as one of the most dangerous health problems experienced by female workers. Health care providers have a role to play in ensuring IPV cases are minimized in the future through reporting perpetuators to the relevant authority. Constant education about IPV and other preventive measures can prevent this problem in the workplace (The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2012 #13).
Violence behaviors should be eliminated not only in the health sector but also in other industries in order to create suitable working conditions for every employee. According to Purpora and Blegen (2012), researchers in the field of nursing have studied workplace behaviors concerning violence among nurses and consequences. The researchers called upon future experts to make thorough use of effective theories of nursing in order to get to the root of the problem and introduce a working solution (Purpora and Blegen, 2012 #14).
References
Algwaiz, W. M., & Alghanim, S. A. (2012). Violence exposure among health care professionals in Saudi public hospitals: A preliminary investigation. Saudi Med J, 33(1), 76-82
Chesnay, M. (2005). Caring for the vulnerable: perspectives in nursing theory, practice, and Research. Sudbury, Mass.: Jones and Bartlett.
Cooper, C. l. & Swanson, N. (1999). Workplace violence in the health sector. State of the art. Cropley, S. (2013). Texas women’s health care in crisis. A Quarterly Publication of Texas
Nurses Association, 7(2), 1-20.
Gates, M.D., Gillespie, G.L., and Succop, P. (2011). Violence against nurses and its impact on stress and productivity. Nursing Economics, 29(2), 59-66.
Gillepsie, G.L., Gates, D.M., Miller, M. $ Howard, P.K. (2010). Violence against healthcare workers in a pediatric emergency department. Advanced Emergency Nursing Journal, 32(1), 68-82.
Glanz, K., Rimer, B. K., Viswanath, K., & Orleans, C. T. (2008). Health behavior and health education: Theory, research, and practice. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Hartley, D., & Ridenour, M. (2011). Workplace Violence in the Healthcare Setting. Medscape Online Journal, 21(3), 1. Retrieved October 12, 2014, from http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/749441
Kaiser Health News. (2010). KHN: Kaiser Health News. Nurses Increasingly Target Of Violence; Texas Nurse Case Settled. Retrieved October 12, 2014, from http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/daily-reports/2010/august/11/nurses.aspx
McPhaul, M. K., London, M., Murrett, K., Flannery, K. Rosen, J., & Lipscomb, J. (2008).
Environmental evaluation for workplace violence in healthcare and social services. Journal of safety research 39, 237-250.
Purpora, C. and Blegen, A. M. (2012). Horizontal violence and the quality and safety of patient care: A conceptual model. Nursing research and practice, 2012(2012), 1-5.
Stathopoulou, H.G. (n.d). Violence and aggression towards health care professionals. Health Science Journal, 2, 1-7
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. (2012). Committee opinion: Intimate
Partner Violence. Retrieved October 30, 2014 from http://www.acog.org/Resources-And-Publications/Committee-Opinions/Committee-on-Health-Care-for-Underserved-Women/Intimate-Partner-Violence
U.S. Department of Justice. (2001). Workplace violence: Issues in response. Critical Incidence Response Group, National Center for Analysis of Violent Crime. Retrieved from:
http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/workplace-violence
