PREVENTING VIOLENCE IN WORK PLACE

Nurses, in most cases experience workplace violence and often they are not reported. This is why I

thought this paper would be a great topic to discuss. I believe that all healthcare providers need to

gain more knowledge on how to prevent violence in work place specially that during this pandemic

many nurses experience discrimination and worst, violence.

According to Siringer (2020) Nurses working in COVID units are often facing abuse by the

public and in hospital settings. An article in Nursing Times details nurses being spit upon and

called “disease spreaders.”  While nurses fighting the coronavirus around the world have been

cheered in public, there’s an incident in our country, specifically in Sultan Kudarat where in a

nurse was reportedly attacked by men who poured bleach on his face, damaging his vision.

These incidents contribute to safety issues and economic hardship at a time of profound personal

and professional pressure. In general, Violence against nurses is unacceptable. Violence against

nurses does not only have a negative impact on their psychological and physical well-being, it

also affects their job motivation. As a long-term consequence, this kind of violence compromises

the quality of care nurses can offer, and puts the health care system at risk. What happened in in

that nurse or elsewhere in the country does not reflect the best of us Filipinos.

The virus highlights preexisting pressures and violence against healthcare workers. In many

cases, it has aggravated them. Like the spread of the virus, COVID-19-related violence has

proliferated around the globe, so far largely out of sight and unchecked. It is in all our interests

that such violence is closely monitored, addressed and – where possible – prevented. Only then

will the people responsible for keeping us alive be able to work without fear for their safety.
Acts of violence in any context must be condemned. What makes the current attacks specifically

horrifying is that health-care personnel are responding to a crisis that is deeply affecting all

societies. Governmental failures in some countries to adequately provide and manage resources

in this pandemic mean that health-care personnel are risking their lives daily by caring for

COVID-19 patients without adequate personal protective equipment and other safety measures in

their workplaces. As a result, thousands of health-care workers worldwide have contracted

severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and have thus been perceived as

public health hazards themselves. This situation has generated violence against them in some

places, essentially for performing their professional duties. This response is likely to exacerbate

already unprecedented COVID-19-related stress and burnout that health-care workers and their

families are experiencing in this pandemic. Effective responses must address the root causes.

Widespread misinformation and disinformation about COVID-19, including conspiracy theories,

have contributed to the demonization of certain groups such as health-care workers.

 Governments, international collaborative bodies, and social media companies must further

refine and expand effective public information campaigns to keep members of the public

informed and educated and to correct misinformation. These should include clear and concise

information on how COVID 19 is and is not spread and the science behind response measures. In

the face of high levels of community distrust in many places, active engagement of key trusted

community stakeholders and organizations in information campaigns will also be essential for

success.

Accountability is needed. We must demand strong yet responsible enforcement actions against

perpetrators of attacks by local and national governments. Violence against health-care personnel

should be met with swift responses from law enforcement and legal systems. Local law
enforcement authorities must fully investigate each reported incident, with an objective,

evidence-based process. Full accountability for these crimes must be ensured and perpetrators

must be held accountable. state and local governments should invest in health security measures

to protect health-care workers as part of COVID-19 emergency budgets. Funding for the

protection of health-care personnel and health facilities is needed now.

And also, the health professional associations, societies, and organizations from all specialties

and disciplines should unite in speaking out forcefully against all acts of discrimination,

intimidation, and violence against health-care workers.

 They must immediately condemn violence when it occurs and participate in initiatives aimed at

responding to and eliminating violence.

To eliminate violence, I firmly believed that the local governments should invest in health

security measures to protect health-care workers as part of COVID-19 emergency budgets.

Funding for the protection of health-care personnel and health facilities is needed now.

It is important that employees feel safe in the workplace. All healthcare setting should develop a

prevention policy. This policy would include that their policy has a zero tolerance for violence

towards violence. Administrators should encourage the staff to report threats of violence. Another

way to reduce violence is to do more screening on their employees before the hiring process. It is

important to pay attention to the gaps, rabbit trails before hiring.

There are a handful of ways workplaces can mitigate violence risks for employees—and a lot of

it comes down to trust. In addition to making sure there are violence reporting systems in place,
employees need to be encouraged to report the violence. Beyond that, employees need to have

significant faith and trust in their employers or companies to treat the reports with respect.

Workers in the Philippines and other countries can look forward to violence- and harassment-

free workplace after the International Labor Conference (ILC), adopted a new convention to

combat and prevent these problem. In addition The majority of evidence emphasizes the

importance to develop a strategy to prevent violence among health care workers to improve the

quality of care and retain nurses. Healthcare professionals facing coercion sometimes choose to

abandon their advocacy role to avoid intimidating behaviors, which impact patient safety.

Promote a culture of safety that encourages and improve open and respectful communication,

interdisciplinary collaboration among all health care providers and staff, provide support,

education , and counseling to the victim(Joint Commission ,2007 ;Rosenstein,2002).

All in all, violence at work place is a complex problem which demand multifunctional actions

and cooperation even with safety policies and procedures in place ,hospital and other health care

setting can be dangerous places ,filled with individuals who are under stress .Part of nurses job to

raise awareness in the health and aged care sectors and the community about the incidence of

violence and its unacceptability as a workplace hazard are beginning to empower nurses to report

violent incidents, to act to minimize risk , and to ensure their employers accept their legal

obligations to provide a safe place for nurses to work and to provide care for the community.
References;

 https://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/workplace/en/

 https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31191-0/fulltext

 https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/04/01/ibp-vows-to-defend-frontline-health-care-

workers-vs-harassment-and-discrimination/

 https://theconversation.com/healthcare-workers-are-still-coming-under-attack-during-the-

coronavirus-pandemic-136573

 https://www.nursingtimes.net/news/policies-and-guidance/attacks-against-nurses-must-

be-condemned-as-world-fights-covid-19-21-05-2020/

 https://nursinganswers.net/essays/violence-against-nursing-workplace-health-and-social-

care-essay.php