Experiences of Workplace Violence and Coping Strategies Among Emergency Nurses in Egypt: A Descriptive Qualitative...

Emergency nurses in Egypt face a high risk of workplace violence, but their subjective experiences are not well understood.

This study aimed to explore the causes, sources, types, and coping strategies related to workplace violence among emergency nurses in Egypt.

A descriptive qualitative design was used. Data were collected from 312 emergency nurses in an Egyptian hospital setting via an open-ended qualitative questionnaire and analyzed using directed content analysis.

The primary cause of violence was work pressure (reported by 61% of nurses), driven by a lack of protection and staff shortages. The main sources of violence were external, from patients' relatives (62%), and internal, from hierarchical disputes (18%). Verbal abuse was the most prevalent type of violence (78%), followed by physical violence (16%). The most common response was notifying supervisors (55%), though many nurses also reported significant emotional distress and avoidance coping.

This study reveals that workplace violence against emergency nurses in Egypt is driven by a dual threat of external-family and internal-organizational pressures. These findings underscore the need for targeted interventions that not only manage patient-family interactions but also address systemic organizational failures and internal hierarchical conflicts to ensure nurse safety.