Workplace Violence Against Nurses: Causes and Solutions
This paper examines workplace violence as it affects professional nurses in the United States, where healthcare workers account for approximately two-thirds of all nonfatal workplace violence injuries. Drawing on literature from the American Nurses Association, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA), the paper reviews the scope of the problem, surveys state legislation and Joint Commission standards designed to protect nursing staff, and considers how other public and private sector organizations have addressed similar challenges. The paper concludes by identifying practical, creative resources — including a NIOSH-developed training toolkit — that hospitals can use to build a culture of zero tolerance and reduce the incidence of violence against nurses.
- Introduction: Framing nurses' vulnerability to workplace violence
- How Workplace Violence Affects Nursing Practice: Statistics and definitions of healthcare workplace violence
- State Laws and Joint Commission Standards: State-by-state legislation and regulatory standards
- Solving the Problem: Resources and Cooperation: Ideal interventions if resources were unlimited
- How Other Professions Have Addressed Workplace Violence: Zero-tolerance and screening practices across sectors
- Creative Resources for Prevention: NIOSH toolkit and ENA culture-change recommendations
- Conclusion: Key findings and recommendations for nurse safety
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper grounds its argument in concrete statistics (healthcare workers accounting for 66% of nonfatal workplace violence injuries), lending credibility to its central claim.
- It systematically works through a structured set of questions — scope, ideal solutions, comparative solutions, and practical resources — giving the analysis a clear logical progression.
- The inclusion of specific legislative details (state-by-state breakdowns) and Joint Commission standards adds authoritative, policy-level evidence that strengthens the argument.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper effectively uses a literature-review structure to synthesize multiple authoritative sources — government agencies, professional nursing associations, and peer-reviewed journals — into a coherent policy argument. By moving from problem definition to comparative analysis to actionable recommendations, it models how academic writing can bridge descriptive research and practical application.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with an introduction framing the problem and previewing the structure. A central review-and-analysis section addresses four sequential questions: how the problem affects nursing practice, how it could be solved with unlimited resources, how other professions have handled it, and what creative resources are available. A brief conclusion synthesizes the key findings. This question-driven scaffold keeps the argument focused and reader-friendly throughout.
Introduction
Professional nurses are on the frontlines of healthcare, and unfortunately the war metaphor is all too accurate in many cases. Hospitals can be dangerous places for all healthcare employees, but nurses are particularly vulnerable to violence because of the frequent one-on-one contact they have with patients who may be suffering from a wide range of medical conditions that could trigger a violent episode. To determine how this problem is adversely affecting nursing practice, this paper reviews the literature on workplace violence and nurses, considers how the problem could be solved if resources and cooperation were unlimited, and examines how other professions have addressed similar challenges. A description of the resources needed to creatively address the problem is followed by a summary of key findings in the conclusion.
How Workplace Violence Affects Nursing Practice
Violence against nurses is a serious problem in the United States. Healthcare workers have accounted for fully 66% of all nonfatal workplace violence injuries over the past decade. According to the editors of American Nurse (2013), "These workers face the risk of both physical violence and non-physical violence, such as verbal abuse, on the job" (p. 4).
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has defined workplace violence as "any physical assault, threatening behavior or verbal abuse occurring in the workplace" (Workplace violence, 2014, para. 1). In this context, workplace violence also includes covert or overt actions spanning the continuum from verbal abuse to murder (Workplace violence, 2014).
Moreover, there are no federal standards in place for protecting nurses in the workplace, although some states have recognized the problem and taken steps to enact laws protecting nurses and other healthcare workers (Workplace violence, 2014). These states have already developed, or are in the process of developing, legislation that will require comprehensive prevention programs for healthcare workers as well as enhanced penalties for assault convictions involving nurses and others in the healthcare workplace (Workplace violence, 2014).
References
Bruce, M. D., & Nowlin, W. A. (2011, Winter). Workplace violence: Awareness, prevention, and response. Public Personnel Management, 40(4), 293–295.
ENA study: Culture change needed to reduce violence against emergency nurses. American Nurse, 46(2), 7.
Tool to help prevent workplace violence. (2013, September/October). American Nurse, 45(5), 4.
Workplace violence. (2014). American Nurses Association. Retrieved from
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