Nurses view workplace violence as part of job: study

A survey of nurses at one Australian hospital found that although 75 percent of respondents experienced workplace violence, only half verbally reported the incident and less than one-fifth completed an official incident report, according to a new study published in the February edition of the Journal of Clinical Nursing.

According to a study abstract, only 16 percent of the 113 survey respondents filed an official report regarding the violence they experienced on the job. The nurses, mostly women in their early 40s, reported a total of 2,354 incidents over a 12-month period. Ninety-two percent of nurses reported being verbally abused, 69 percent reported being physically threatened and 52 percent had been physically assaulted.

Nurses told researchers they did not report the incidents because they believed workplace violence was part of the job and management would not be responsive. Researchers said the survey results were similar to other studies.