The problem of patients' aggression toward health care workers

Introduction. Aggression and violence in the workplace have become an alarming problem worldwide. They result in disorders which affect both professional and social functioning of victims as well as their mental state. Nurses engaged in direct patient care are especially exposed to aggressive behaviors. Aim. The purpose of this study was to assess the exposure of health care workers to aggression. Material and Methodology. The study was carried out in 2014. It included 230 female and male nurses employed in psychiatric hospitals in the Lubuskie Province. This survey-based study was conducted using an original questionnaire “Exposure to aggression” developed at the Unit of Labor Psychology at Prof. J. Nofer Labor Medicine Institute in Łodź. Results. Some 99.1% of the surveyed faced patient aggression. Its most common form was verbal aggression (shouting – 99.1%). Forms of psychological aggression included: threats (92.2%), offending employees in the presence of their co-workers (89.1%), offending employees in the presence of other patients (87.8%) and blackmail (83.9%). Physical aggression was experienced by 49.1% and attempts of physical attack – 66.5% of the respondents. Education and gender of the surveyed had no statistically significant influence on the exposure to patient aggression. The factors having such influence were: seniority, workplace and age. Employees with the least professional experience and the youngest ones were the most frequent subject to patient aggression. A group at the highest risk of patients’ aggressive behaviors were workers of general psychiatric wards. Conclusion. Nurses employed at psychiatric wards experience various forms of patients’ aggressive behaviors. The most common form of aggression towards nurses is psychological aggression. The degree of exposure to patient aggression is related to workers’ age, workplace, and seniority. Neither education nor gender has an influence on the exposure to patient aggression.