Violence against nurses in the emergency department: an observational study
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.Desig...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMJ Publishing Group
2023-04-01
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| Series: | BMJ Open |
| Online Access: | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/13/4/e067354.full |
| _version_ | 1797852335957868544 |
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| author | Christophe Demattei Pascale Fabbro-Peray Jane Price Muriel Chazel Sandrine Alonso Sarah Kabani |
| author_facet | Christophe Demattei Pascale Fabbro-Peray Jane Price Muriel Chazel Sandrine Alonso Sarah Kabani |
| author_sort | Christophe Demattei |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T19:31:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ba7924dff8994844aa2fd763e2522412 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2044-6055 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T19:31:19Z |
| publishDate | 2023-04-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Open |
| spelling | doaj.art-ba7924dff8994844aa2fd763e25224122023-04-04T23:00:05ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552023-04-0113410.1136/bmjopen-2022-067354Violence against nurses in the emergency department: an observational studyChristophe Demattei0Pascale Fabbro-Peray1Jane Price2Muriel Chazel3Sandrine Alonso4Sarah Kabani5Biostatistiques et Epidemiologie, Hopital Caremeau, Nimes, France7Laboratoire d`Epidémiologie et de Biostatistiques, Univ. Montpellier, Institut Universitaire de Recherche Clinique, Montpellier, FranceNursing Department, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nimes, Nimes, Languedoc-Roussillon, FranceDepartment of Cardiology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nimes, Nimes, Languedoc-Roussillon, FranceDepartment of Biostatistics, Clinical Epidemiology, Public Health and Innovation in Methodology (BESPIM), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nimes, Nimes, Languedoc-Roussillon, FranceDepartment of Biostatistics, Clinical Epidemiology, Public Health and Innovation in Methodology (BESPIM), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nimes, Nimes, FranceObjective 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.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/13/4/e067354.full |
| spellingShingle | Christophe Demattei Pascale Fabbro-Peray Jane Price Muriel Chazel Sandrine Alonso Sarah Kabani Violence against nurses in the emergency department: an observational study BMJ Open |
| title | Violence against nurses in the emergency department: an observational study |
| title_full | Violence against nurses in the emergency department: an observational study |
| title_fullStr | Violence against nurses in the emergency department: an observational study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Violence against nurses in the emergency department: an observational study |
| title_short | Violence against nurses in the emergency department: an observational study |
| title_sort | violence against nurses in the emergency department an observational study |
| url | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/13/4/e067354.full |
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