Experience of nurses with in-patient aggression in the Slovak Republic

Abstract

Aim: The aim of the study was to explore the experience of staff nurses from selected hospitals in all regions of Slovakia of inpatient aggression in their past year of practice. Design: A quantitative cross-sectional study. Methods: The sample consisted of 1042 nurses with a mean number of years of work experience of 19.23 (SD 10.96) from medical, surgical, and psychiatric wards, and emergency and intensive care units. Data collection was conducted by the self-reference instrument, the Violence and Aggression of Patients Scale (VAPS). Results: Over the past year, 97.4% of nurses have been confronted with patient aggression. 96.8% of nurses have experienced verbal aggression and 83.3% physical aggression. Nurses working in psychiatric and intensive care wards have experienced the most frequent episodes of patient aggression. A statistically significant difference was confirmed in the prevalence of patient aggression towards nurses based on their pattern of shift work. Nurses working in multiple-shift operation reported a higher frequency of patient aggression compared with those working single-shifts. The relationship between age, years of work experience, and level of education, and experience of patient aggression was not proved to be significant. Conclusion: The study highlights nurses' experience of different forms of patient aggression and provides confirmation of the current relevance of this issue. The results may become the basis for a systematic evaluation of the causative factors and the management of aggression. The implementation of preventive strategies in clinical practice is crucial.

Keywords

• nurses
• experience
• inpatient aggression
• forms of aggression
• VAPS scale