Nurses' Experience With Type II Workplace Violence and Underreporting During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Occupational Health and Safety
• Nursing Practice

Background:

• Workplace violence (WPV) against nurses, particularly Type II (customer-on-worker), is a persistent challenge.
• The COVID-19 pandemic may have exacerbated WPV due to increased stress on patients and healthcare workers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe and compare the prevalence of Type II WPV reported by nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• To assess the reporting of WPV incidents by nurses during the pandemic.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study utilizing an online survey of 373 registered nurses in hospitals.
• Calculated prevalence of physical violence and verbal abuse.
• Compared WPV experiences and reporting between nurses who cared for COVID-19 patients and those who did not.

Main Results:

• 44.4% of nurses reported physical violence and 67.8% reported verbal abuse between Feb-May/June 2020.
• Nurses caring for COVID-19 patients reported significantly higher rates of physical violence (aOR=2.18) and verbal abuse (aOR=2.10).
• Approximately 10% of nurses found reporting incidents more difficult during the pandemic.

Conclusions:

• Nurses caring for COVID-19 patients faced increased WPV and greater difficulty reporting incidents.
• Healthcare organizations must acknowledge the elevated risk of WPV for healthcare workers during the pandemic.
• There is an urgent need for enhanced WPV prevention strategies in healthcare settings.