Identifying and Comparing the Viewpoints of Nurses & Patients on Workplace Violence against Nurses & Related Factors

Workplace violencehas a negativeimpacton nurse’s health, welfare, safety and qualityof nursing care. Thisstudy aims to determinethenature ofworkplace violenceagainstnurses from the nurses and patients perspectivein Tabriz University of Medical Sciences’ hospitals.
This descriptive-comparative study was carried out in hospitals of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in 2013. The World Health Organization’s modified questionnairewas used to investigate thenature of theviolence. Totally 373 nurses and 384 patients participated in the study. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (number, percent, mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics(x2 square).
Findings: The results revealed a high prevalence of violence in clinical settings. (Nurses reported 273 and patients reported 157 cases of violence). Nurses thought thatthe most frequent violences were: verbal, 248(66%); physical, 68(18%); racial, 42(11%) and sexual, 9(2%) and patients reported that the most prevalent violences against nurses were: verbal, 135(35%); racial, 39(10%); sexual, 20(5%) and physical, 10(3%). Analyses showed that there is a statistically significant difference between these groups regarding violence in clinical settings. (p Violence in clinical settings is an undeniable fact. This study showed that violence exists in clinical settings but its nature is different from the viewpoint of nurses and patients and the difference requires more investigation, hence it can be an efficient requires more investigation, hence it can be an efficient become an efficient step in management and measure to manage and reduce this type of violence.