Workplace Violence Against Emergency Department Nurses

Emergency department nurses are one of the first lines of patient care, and as such, workplace violence against them is often overlooked. Non-fatal workplace violence is documented to be four times higher in the healthcare sector, specifically in the emergency department, compared to any other industrial sector (Ayasreb & Hayajneb, 2021). Workplace violence, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, is defined as, “Any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or other threatening behavior that occurs at the work site” (Occupational Safety and Health Administration, para. 2). Violence in emergency departments for nurses is a silent epidemic that leaves them vulnerable in their workplace and causes physical, psychological, and social stress. Stene et al. classified violence into 3 categories: verbal, physical, and sexual violence. Within these articles, it was found that verbal violence was most common (2015). Given the frequent nature, it is suggested that verbal violence could be under reported by nurses as they may just accept it as part of their job (Ayasreb & Hayajneb, 2021). With safety in the emergency department being a concern for nurses, action must be taken to resolve these ongoing issues of workplace violence. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to describe workplace violence against emergency department nurses and explore violence prevention strategies.