How the situation of nursing workplace violence unfolded
The enormous workload and the two consecutive shifts had made their presence felt: I lacked both empathy and physical strength to pay more attention to the patient. Alas, the visitor’s emotional state at that moment left him no room for understanding or, at least, analyzing the situation. Zhang et al. (2017) stress out that nurses working in a stressful or understaffed setting have higher odds of experiencing violence.
A sudden outburst of rage served as a premise for the conflict to occur: the patient’s brother had attempted to attack me while I was trying to perform my working duties. The given fact leaves no doubt that his actions led to a workplace issue involving the violation of safety norms. Fortunately, the individual’s intentions to assault me did not grow into a criminal act. Nevertheless, his actions cannot be treated as legal or ethically correct.
The key players and their roles in the situation
Omitting myself as an aggrieved person in this situation, the patient’s brother and the nurse manager arrive as the two major players. While the role of the visitor is clarified as that of an attacker, the role of the second participant is the polar opposite one. It is owing to the nurse manager that I did not receive any serious injury. The chief nurse noticed the occurring conflict and interfered immediately to assist me with negotiations and stabilize the situation.
This person stayed with me up to the moment the visitor regained his temper and agreed to leave. Meanwhile, my assertion that I was doing everything possible did not convince the patient’s brother to change his tone. This fact proves that he took a biased attitude towards me.
The conclusion of the situation and whether it was a satisfactory ending
As was mentioned earlier, the situation had been resolved positively once the visitor’s arguments ended and he understood that the member of his family was given the necessary care. The nurse manager demonstrated the maximum level of communication skills when trying to regain the individual’s attention. Although the patient’s brother was still showing some signs of resentment, he agreed to leave the hospital and no longer distracted nurses from performing their duties.
The ending was satisfactory for both parties, allowing all participants to make adequate conclusions. No fine was imposed on me, which speaks of favorable situation outcomes. As to other clinical staff members, they “had increased confidence and knowledge about risk factors” too (Phillips, 2016, p. 1662). The inpatient continued to receive treatment proved that the quality of service met the customer’s expectations.
The impact that the situation continues to have on you
My thoughts carry me back to the described situation from time to time. When someone speaks of workplace safety or violent behavior, I unintentionally start recollecting those events, as it is the only cause of a physical assault I have experienced so far. The mentioned concepts trigger restless memories that I am desperate to forget. From now on, personnel security will be tightly associated with the term violence for me.
The given situation has changed both my perception of a clinical environment and my attitude towards working duties. As a nurse, I now try to devote as much time as possible to every patient I care for to hear all complaints and eliminate all possible misunderstandings. My comprehension of conflict has changed, too; I treat it as the lack of required knowledge, which is possible to gain. The resolution of the situation is acceptable for me, but I believe that security in a clinical setting needs thorough reconsideration.
References
Phillips, J. P. (2016). Workplace violence against health care workers in the United States. New England Journal of Medicine, 374(17), 1661-1669. Web.
Zhang, L., Wang, A., Xie, X., Zhou, Y., Li, J., Yang, L., & Zhang, J. (2017). Workplace violence against nurses: A cross-sectional study. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 72, 8-14. Web.