Violence against nurses in the emergency department : an observational study

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ..

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the number and risk factors of violent events encountered in the emergency department. An observation grid was developed following interviews with emergency department staff to target the most pertinent information to collect in a prospective study design.

DESIGN: Observational study.

SETTING: Emergency department of a tertiary hospital in France.

OUTCOME MEASURES: Number of violent events occurring during a single shift, recorded over 6 months by two observers. Information collected included time and date of incident; number of male/female staff; number of patients and accompaniers present in the service and the waiting room and length of staff debriefing. Perpetrator, victim and patient information were collected. Victims were followed-up 72 hours later.

RESULTS: Eighty-two periods were observed between November 2015 and April 2016 recording 35 violent incidents affecting 37 perpetrators and 48 victims, equally distributed over the days of the week and months of the year. The median interval until violence was 0 [0-96] min from entry. Eight (23%) events were officially reported, with two (6%) resulting in charges being pressed. No risk factors were significantly associated with violent incidents in multivariate analysis, although there was a tendency towards significance for fewer senior female doctors present (p=0.0787) and a resulting longer debriefing session (p=0.0712).

CONCLUSIONS: We confirm the high rate of violence in the emergency department and poor level of official reporting. Strategies should be implemented to anticipate and reduce incidence and encourage reporting by affected staff.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT02116439.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2023

Erschienen:

2023

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:13

Enthalten in:

BMJ open - 13(2023), 4 vom: 04. Apr., Seite e067354

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Chazel, Muriel [VerfasserIn]
Alonso, Sandrine [VerfasserIn]
Price, Jane [VerfasserIn]
Kabani, Sarah [VerfasserIn]
Demattei, Christophe [VerfasserIn]
Fabbro-Peray, Pascale [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

ACCIDENT & EMERGENCY MEDICINE
Journal Article
Observational Study
PUBLIC HEALTH
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Risk management

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 06.04.2023

Date Revised 12.04.2023

published: Electronic

ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02116439

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1136/bmjopen-2022-067354

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM355205335