Remote Area Nurses: Prevalent Victims of Occupational Violence Paper

Introduction

Occupational violence is a prevalent issue affecting healthcare professionals globally. Remote area nurses constitute the group that majorly affected by workplace violence with an approximate figure of 67-80% (Wressell et al., 2018). Remote area physicians experience workplace violence either verbally or physically, which later hinder the nurses’ ability to deliver quality care to patients seeking medical attention within healthcare settings in rural areas (Wressell et al., 2018). Occupational violence is defined as a form of either physical or psychological abuse or assault in instances related to one’s occupation. In a view to comprehend workplace violence experienced by remote area nurses, there is a need to offer a comprehensive view of occupational violence based on statistical data from the collegian journal.

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What is Known/Knowledge Gap

The management of workplace risks, occupational health, and healthcare literature link three sources of workplace violence. The internal workplace violence entails the occupational violence experienced among employees within a healthcare system. On the other hand, the external workplace violence is the kind of occupational violence experienced between the healthcare employees and the people that are unknown to the healthcare system such as patients. However, the study excluded internal violence as a factor that precipitates workplace violence.

The consequences of workplace violence in rural healthcare givers resurface at personal and organizational levels. At an organizational level, workplace violence is revealed through increased turnover, high levels of absenteeism, and internal workplace violence. At a personal level, consistent exposure to workplace violence results in increased levels of anxiety coupled with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Summary of the Article “Exploring the workplace violence risk profile for remote area nurses and the impact of organizational culture and risk management strategy”

Workplace violence towards healthcare nurses working in remote areas is one of the healthcare predicaments that affect the healthcare profession in the delivery of quality care globally. Occupational violence towards remote area nurses amounts to an alarming figure of 80% (Wressell et al., 2018). Hitherto, the healthcare profession is yet to develop strategic measures necessary to combat the problem to ensure that remote area nurses offer healthcare support to patients with minimal instances of workplace violence (Wressell et al., 2018). In countries such as Australia, workplace violence towards remote area physicians is prevalent compared to urbanized nurses. Although prior studies have focused on the frequency and severity of occupational violence, a rigorous threat sketch for the rural health setting is yet to be explored (Wressell et al., 2018). Thus, the study focuses on the two dissimilar but interrelated domains with these being workplace characteristics and managerial culture.

Synopsis

In a view to comprehend workplace violence in towards nurses that work in remote healthcare givers, a quantitative exploratory approach was employed to explore the remote area nurses exposure to patient, professional, and ecological physiognomies (Wressell et al., 2018). Moreover, the effects of the managerial culture and structures were also explored in line with remote area nurses. The authenticity of the study was officiated by obtaining an ethics approval from Deakin Faculty of Health Ethics Commission (Wressell et al., 2018). On the other hand, a survey method was employed to conduct the research. However, Wressell et al. (2018) noted that the inability of the tool to be sourced prompted the need to conduct the research using the two techniques with these being Worksafe Victoria and Nova Scotia Association of Health Organizations risk factor check.

Worksafe Victoria is a healthcare instrument purposely developed for health sites to register managerial blockades associated with the reporting instances of workplace violence. For instance, if a remote area nurse faces instances of workplace violence, he or she is permitted to report the instance to the Worksafe Victoria so that he or she is aided to mitigate the impacts that stem from occupational violence (Wressell et al., 2018). Additionally, the Nova Scotia risk factor check is an instrument developed to identify occupational, ecological, and patient risk subtleties in healthcare settings. Notably, the tool collects statistical data regarding workplace violence within healthcare settings that target rural area nurses (Wressell et al., 2018).

Instruments of collecting data were first tested before being used to collect data to ensure that the results recorded from these instruments are accurate and up-to-date. The WorkSafe Victoria and Nova Scotia Association of Health Organizations instruments of collecting data is deemed authentic due to the initial experimental testing before being used to collect data (Wressell et al., 2018). The two instruments have been verified using focus groups and industrial use. More so, the survey questions were revised twice in which duplicate questions were removed to ensure each question is allocated enough time for respondents to answer (Wressell et al., 2018). On the same note, questions that would result in the identification of respondents were removed to warrantee participants their ethnic confidentiality. The revised questions were combined into s single survey, and the text boxes for comments added to permit for a wide understanding of replies (Wressell et al., 2018).

The annexation standards for respondents comprised of registered physicians employed in secluded settings in Australia. The standard definition of remoteness was articulated to the Australian statistical geography standards that apply to other terms such as remote or very remote (Wressell et al., 2018). However, the exclusion criteria involved registered nurses who had no record of having worked in rural settings for four weeks. The core goal of incorporating exclusion criteria was to ensure that remote area nurses are selected based on contemporary experience in workplace violence (Wressell et al., 2018).

The respondents were selected based on their healthcare professions, in particular, from CRANA, Australian collage of nursing, and remote area nurse on Facebook (Wressell et al., 2018). The consents of each participant were obtained to ensure that every participant responds to the given survey questions freely and willingly. However, participants that had consented to participate in the survey were not permitted to leave survey rooms before the completion of the survey process (Wressell et al., 2018).

After collecting the respondents’ views, data analysis was performed using arithmetical sculpting methods. These methods included t-tests, chi-squares, and basic data modeling in a view to detecting the link between variables (Wressell et al., 2018). Similarly, the bias that emanates from the wrong question order was addressed to ensure that certain questions do not prompt participants to offer certain answers.

An approximate of 99 remote area nurses offered a positive response to the survey (Wressell et al., 2018). A significant number of participants were registered nurses employed in the northern territory, amounting to 47.2%. A minimal split of 42% existed between nurses that were permanently employed, and those worked as interns (Wressell et al., 2018). Such a low number of responses would amount to unintentional alteration, and as such, we decided to eliminate these replies while analyzing data.

Conclusion

The nature of the working environment in healthcare is the core cause that creates a risk profile for outward, and patient umpired occupational violence. Workplace place violence towards remote area nurses is linearly linked to individualistic items faced. Healthcare givers ought to educate remote nurses on the mitigation strategies that target to solve internal and external factors that necessitate the occurrence of workplace violence in a view to mitigating the individual risk factors that necessitate workplace violence. The healthcare organization is mandated to offer remote area nurses a work environment that stimulates a safety culture to ensure that nurses working in remote areas offer quality care to patient within minimal timeframes.

Reference

Wressell, J. A., Rasmussen, B., & Driscoll, A. (2018). Exploring the workplace violence risk profile for remote area nurses and the impact of organizational culture and risk management strategy. Collegian, 25(6), 601-606. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1322769618300787