ArticleNursing open2025
Healthcare Worker's Experiences of Patient-Initiated Workplace Violence in Emergency Departments: Qualitative Research.
Article in Nursing open, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
aimTo examine (a) 'on-the-spot' experiences, (b) contributing factors and (c) warning signs of patient-initiated workplace violence (WPV) from the perspectives of healthcare worker (HCW) victims and witnesses in emergency departments.
designA qualitative interpretive description study.
methodsData from in-depth semi-structured virtual interviews conducted from June to September 2023 with purposefully selected HCW victims and witnesses (n = 19), and incident reports (n = 47) from the Workplace Health Indicator Tracking and Evaluation database of two emergency departments in British Columbia, Canada, were analysed using thematic analysis.
resultsParticipants reported (1) physical assault, (2) threats of physical assault, (3) emotional/verbal violence and (4) threats of sexual assault. Contributing factors to patient-initiated WPV encompassed three main themes and their subthemes: (1) the context of the care environment (care provision and unit flow, staffing shortages and wait times, patient needs being beyond what can be delivered); (2) the context of the patient (patients' physiological and psychological states, patients not having the 'benefit of our perspectives' and patients' previous experiences of losing freedom and experiencing violence); and (3) the context of the healthcare provider (healthcare provider education and interactions with patients). While not all patients demonstrated warning signs before exhibiting aggression, those who did, most commonly showed signs such as being irritable and/or avoiding eye contact or answering questions.
conclusionFindings emphasised an urgent need for patient-centred, trauma informed and team-based care approaches and training programmes. IMPACT: While there is extensive body of evidence on patient-initiated WPV in relation to its prevalence, antecedents and consequences, there remains a gap in our understandings of contributing factors, and early warning signs. Through understanding the experiences of HCW victims and/or witnesses of 'on-the-spot' experiences and experiences leading up to aggression and violence, this study revealed further understandings of contributing factors and early warnings sings of patient-initiated WPV. Patient-initiated WPV in emergency departments involve multifaceted risk factors at the system, environmental, patient and healthcare provider levels and their mitigation require the adoption of patient-centred care, trauma informed care and team based care. REPORTING
methodThe COREQ guidelines for qualitative research were used. PATIENT/PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: No patient or public contribution.
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