More than half of ER nurses report being abused at work

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SALT LAKE CITY - According to the Emergency Nurses Association, more than half of emergency room nurses in American say they are abused on the job -- physically and verbally.

University Hospital takes extra precautions to keep its nurses safe on the job.

University Hospital's Emergency Room staff treat people who are suffering from a variety of injuries, including gunshot wounds and injuries suffered in a car accident.

More than half of ER nurses report being abused at work

Nurse Sam Davis says, "When it gets to be like that, it's intense because it is literally life and death for the people that are here."

Davis likes the variety the ER offers. He says it see a wide variety of injuries from stubbed toes and sprained ankles to people who are very sick and dying.

When those very sick, injured people come in, it doesn't surprise him to hear sometimes they lash out at nurses.

He says, "Everything that happens here is frightening, painful or humiliating, and they tend not to behave well."

More than half of emergency rooms reported being spit on, pushed or shoved, scratched or kicked. One in four nurses experienced such violence more than 20 times in the past three years. The study also found one in five nurses experienced verbal abuse more than 200 times during the same period.

**Work Place Hazards: Emergency Room**

• More than half of emergency nurses experienced physical violence on the job

-includes being "spit on," "hit," "pushed or shoved," "scratched," and "kicked"

• 1 in 4 experienced such violence more than 20 times in the past 3 years • 1 in 5 experienced verbal abuse more than 200 times during same period • 67 percent rate their perception of safety in the emergency dept. at five or lower on a ten point scale • 1 in 3 considered leaving her or his department or emergency nursing • Violence was highest during night shifts and weekends/lowest in pediatric emergency dept. -*-Emergency Nurses Association*

But the violence was lower for nurses who worked in facilities that had polices for reporting and responding to such violence; facilities like at University Hospital.

Davis explains, "We have security staff here 24 hours a day, and we have campus police here in the emergency department."

And if a nurse is abused, he or she is trained to handle it appropriately.

Davis says, "Everyone in the staff goes through crisis prevention/intervention classes and courses."

Davis says it is not common for a nurse at the hospital to be abused, but it can happen. He says sometimes, they just have to remember that everyone who comes into the emergency room is having a bad day.

E-mail: abutterfield@ksl.com