Prevalence of workplace violence against registered nurses and their perceptions of relevant management systems in acute care hospitals

Abstract

Purpose: This study investigated the prevalence and perceptions of workplace violence against registered nurses (RNs) in hospitals.Methods: One thousand RNs replied to a nationwide survey from November 14 to December 22, 2022. They reported their general characteristics, prevalence of and their responses to different types of workplace violence from patients, family caregivers, physicians, and nurse peers, as well as their perceptions of workplace violence management systems.Results: A total of 71.1% of the RNs reported that they had experienced workplace violence in the last six months. The violence and sexual harassment experienced from patients and family caregivers were 57.3% and 19.1%, respectively. Furthermore, violence, sexual harassment, and workplace harassment from physicians were experienced by 24.6%, 4.0%, and 7.4%, respectively, of the RNs, and those from nurse peers by 21.4%, 3.1%, and 11.3%, respectively. The RNs stated that they often responded to workplace violence with passive and inactive behaviors, which were more serious toward physicians’ workplace violence or sexual harassment from different perpetrators. Only 69.5% were aware of their hospital’s workplace violence management systems, while only 14.7%~27.4%, according to the type of hospital (<i>p</i>=.471), perceived the systems as effective. Multiple important strategies were identified to prevent workplace violence.Conclusion: Critical suggestions are discussed for the prevention of workplace violence, including protecting the human rights of healthcare professionals, inter-organizational collaboration, and a culture of person-centered healthcare, and training nurse managers’ competency in managing workplace violence.