Assessment of exposure to workplace violence and related factors in nurses of teaching hospitals affiliated to Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, 2016

Violence in the hospital is a common phenomenon. Among the hospital staff, nurses are at greater risk of exposure to violence. The purpose of this study was to investigate the exposure to workplace violence in nurses and its related factors.

This descriptive-analytical study included 309 nurses working in the teaching hospitals affiliated with Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences in 2016. We collected data using a modified workplace violence questionnaire. Chi-square and Fisherchr('39')s exact tests were used for data analysis. A P-value of less than 5% was considered significant.

The results showed that the most frequent type of violence was verbal (79%). Also, exposure to physical violence had statistically significant relationships with age, sex, marital status, work experience, and working hours (P>0.05). There was also a statistically significant relationship between age and inpatient ward with verbal violence and also between age, sex, work experience, and inpatient ward with bullying (P>0.05).

The results showed that nurseschr('39') exposure to workplace violence was high and the risk of exposure to violence decreased with age and higher work experience. Therefore, measures such as training courses on proper communication with patients and colleagues and improvement of coping skills for stressful and violent situations are recommended