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Nurses Subjected to Workplace Violence

We all pretty much know that nursing is not an easy job.   Nurses work hard for their money.   Nurses also have to endure verbal abuse and physical threats.   According to the article in The Times of India, sixty-nine percent of the nurses say they have been physically threatened.  Fifty-two percent of the nurses interviewed  claim they have been physically assaulted.

Many nurses do not report these incidents to their supervisors.   They merely consider it as part of the job.   The number of incidents also varied according to what department the nurses were working in.   A great many of these nurses have been bruised or injured.  While most of the studies have focused on public healthcare facilities, there are incidents of violence at private healthcare facilities as well.

Upon reading the article, I would assume that most of the workplace violence is caused by the patients.   I have to wonder how many incidents are from other staff members.  Having read report after report where  hospitals and such are hiring healthcare workers with criminal records and histories of drug theft and sexual abuse, I have to wonder if this is at least partly the reason for silence on the part of the nurses.

If so, then it is all that more important to conduct thorough background checks on the healthcare staffers.  Thorough background checks means actually getting your money’s worth, where the reports are comprehensive and where they return in a timely fashion.  And then, most importantly, they are reviewed by someone who can actually read and can understand what they are reading.   Too often the final reports, even the more comprehensive ones are ignored or many relevant facts are overlooked.   It is like having a seat belt and not wearing it.  Doesn’t make sense.  Yet it happens.

Workplace violence should not be tolerated.  The fact that someone is a nurse and tending to patients gives neither the patients or the other staff members the right to threaten or abuse them.    There will always be incidents of workplace violence.  But with hte proper cautions and procedures, the number of incidents can be reduced so the nurses no longer think that physical assault and verbal abuse is just another day at the office.

Check them out before you hire.

By Gordon Basichis

Gordon Basichis is the Co-Founder of Corra Group, specializing in pre-employment background checks and corporate research. He has been a marketing and media executive and has worked in the entertainment industry, the financial, health care and technology sectors. He is the author of the best selling Beautiful Bad Girl, The Vicki Morgan Story, a non-fiction novel that helped define exotic sexuality in the late twentieth century. He is the author of the Constant Travellers and has recently completed a new book, The Guys Who Spied for China, dealing with Chinese Espionage in the United States. He has been a journalist for several newspapers and is a screenwriter and producer.

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