Violencia laboral en urgencias extrahospitalarias: una revisión sistemática y líneas de intervención psicológica

Work-related violences and associated variables in oncology nursing professionals

Occupational violence is a problem that health professionals are exposed to daily. This cross-sectional study aimed at identifying the prevalence of violence at work (verbal/physical) and the variables related to it in nursing professionals working in oncology. Physical or verbal aggression was assessed through self-report. The relationship between sociodemographic, psycho-emotional and work-related violence (verbal/physical) variables was analyzed using the Chi-Square, Fisher's Exact, Student T and Mann-Whitney tests. The study sample consisted of 231 nursing professionals. The prevalence of physical or verbal aggression reported in the last year was 61.5%. A higher prevalence of aggression was evidenced in professionals who stated that they were tired at the end of the shift and presented reduced concentration during the shift. It is noteworthy that workers who suffered violence presented high levels of burnout in all subscales, a higher Mean score on the work stress scale and a lower Mean with regards to sleep quality. The findings of this study point to the need for institutional measures to prevent and control occupational violence.

[Experiences and perception of health professionals of out-of-hospital emergencies in the face of attacks]

OBJECTIVE

To know the opinions of the health professionals who work at the Ourense Continuous Care Point (PAC) regarding work aggressions.

DESIGN

Qualitative study with phenomenological approach carried out between January and May 2019.

SETTING

PAC.

PARTICIPANTS

Twenty professionals of different categories.

METHOD

Structural sampling. Open interviews recorded in audio were used, with the prior consent of the participants.

RESULTS

The interviewed professionals state that they have been victims of aggressions, especially verbal ones. These aggressions according to the participants are so common that they have normalized them within their working day. None has ever denounced this type of behavior, largely because they consider that the bureaucracy and administrative procedures are tedious, and others due to ignorance of the procedure. These types of situations, at work level, cause them feelings of sadness, anger and helplessness and are the cause according to them, of the increase in defensive medicine. Professionals believe that the cause of the increase in aggressions among the group is due to poor education and inadequate management of patient empowerment.

CONCLUSIONS

Health professionals continually suffer aggressions, especially verbal, being common in their day to day. These attacks are not reported, but they cause multiple negative and disruptive feelings, changing their way of working.

A Systematic Review of Workplace Violence Against Emergency Medical Services Responders

Emergency Medical Service (EMS) responders deliver patient care in high-risk, high-stress, and highly variable scenarios. This unpredictable work environment exposes EMS responders to many risks, one of which is violence. The primary goals of this systematic literature review were to (1) define the issue of violence experienced by EMS responders and (2) identify the risk factors of violence associated with the EMS profession. An innovative inclusion of industrial literature with traditional peer-reviewed literature was performed. Of 387 articles retrieved, 104 articles were assessed and reviewed. Career exposure for EMS responders to at least one instance of verbal and/or physical violence was between 57 and 93 percent. There is a great need for rigorously designed, nationally representative examinations of occupational exposures in order to better understand the temporal associations of violence, cumulative occupational stressors, and the outcomes of physical and psychosocial injuries that are occurring as a result of exposures to violence.

Evaluation of the users violence in primary health care: Adaptation of an instrument

Background/Objetivo: According to the World Health Organization, one out of every four violent workplace acts takes place in the health setting. The aims of the study are to study the prevalence of workplace violence in primary healthcare (PHC) professionals by adapting the Healthcare-worker's Aggresive Behaviour Scale-Users (HABS-U), to establish the frequency of exposure to hostile indicators and to determine which professional group is most exposed. Method: Study through qualitative and quantitative methodology in PHC professionals of the Region of Murcia (Spain). In the qualitative phase in-depth interviews were conducted and during the quantitative phase the instrument was used to 574 professionals of 39 PHC centres. Results: The resulting scale shows excellent psychometric properties and correlates significantly with job satisfaction, burnout components, the factors of empathy and psychological well-being. There was a 90.2% prevalence of user violence, and non-medical personnel were found to be the professional group most exposed. Conclusion: The distribution of user violence is not homogeneous among the different professional groups of PHC. The adaptation of the scale may be useful for detection of user violence, as well as to evaluate the efficacy of intervention programs.