Shannon Van Wiltenburg

Workplace Violence Against Registered Nurses: an Interpretive Description Shannon Van Wiltenburg

Health personnel, especially nurses, are often victims of workplace violence. Unfortunately, little is known about the nurses' experience of violence. This research was undertaken to explore accounts of workplace violence so as to make the dimensions of the nurses' experience visible and more fully understood. In this study, the nurses' experience of workplace violence emerged as a highly complex entity, deeply embedded in relationships and context. How nurses' perceive the contextual factors of the organization, their immediate work environment and their individual attributes were found to play a significant role in how they respond to the phenomenon. This research demonstrates a need to re-think how we address workplace violence in nursing, including organizational policy, governing structures, culture and climate of practice environments and the role education programs have in preparing nurses to manage this difficult problem.