Recognizing and managing violence in the NICU

To determine (1) the nature and frequency of threatening or violent events in the NICU workplace, (2) whether nurses feel confident in their ability to recognize and deal with these events, (3) whether there is an association between violence training and confidence in the ability to recognize and manage violence, and (4) whether NICU nurses report and document these events.

A descriptive, self administered questionnaire.

A nonprobability sample comprised of 68 RNs employed in a Level III NICU in a midwestern metropolitan-area hospital.

Types and frequencies of threatening or violent events in the NICU; nurses' confidence in their ability to recognize/manage these events; nurses' reporting/documentation of these events.

Fifty-four percent of the sample experienced threatening or violent workplace events; 83.8 percent of the sample felt confident in their ability to recognize violent situations; 69.1 percent felt confident in their ability to manage violent situations. Various means were reported for documenting and reporting such events, but 27 percent neither reported nor documented violent events.