Predictors of Workplace Violence in Indian Hospitals: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Nurses

Background: Workplace violence is a common phenomenon among health care workers. Nursing staff with shift duties tend to spend longer duration in hospital premises and hence are at higher risk. Objective: To assess the extent, perpetrators, mitigation strategies, reporting of WPV and predictors of workplace violence among nurses. Methods: A multicentre hospital based cross sectional survey among 511 nurses using a standard questionnaire was done. Descriptive and Logistic regression was used for analysis. Results: Among 511 participants 169 (33.1%) had experienced it wherein almost all (97.5%) experienced verbal violence, 75 (44.4 %) physical violence and 55 (32.5%) sexual violence. Perpetrators of violence in (26%) were patient’s relatives. Majority 153 (90.5%) expressed regular training of healthcare workers as mitigation strategy. A significant association using chi square was obtained between demographic variables as Age (Χ2= 13.181, p=0.04), Gender (Χ2= 8.675, p=0.013), Nature of duty (Χ2= 18.257, p=0.000), availability of Security Person (Χ2= 6.772, p=0.034) and types of WPV. The overall binomial logistic regression model for predictors of workplace violence was significant with χ2(5) = 29.53, p < 0.001, implying that age, type of hospital, nature of duty, working area are significantly associated. Conclusion and Recommendations: The WPV in various forms with verbal abuse being the commonest is prevalent among nurses in India. The healthcare administration needs to be sensitized so that firm policies and procedures can be planned and executed to ensure delivery of quality Nursing Care.