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Verbal and Non-Verbal Aggression in a Swiss University Emergency Room: A Descriptive Study

Workplace violence (WPV) by patients and visitors is a hazard in many emergency departments (ED), with serious consequences for both staff and patients. Patients with a migratory background seem to be prone to being involved in WPV. We therefore reviewed all reports of ED staff who experienced WPV o...

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Autores principales: Kaeser, Dominic, Guerra, Rebekka, Keidar, Osnat, Lanz, Urs, Moses, Michael, Kobel, Christian, Exadaktylos, Aristomenis K., Ricklin, Meret E.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6069438/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29986402
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15071423
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author Kaeser, Dominic
Guerra, Rebekka
Keidar, Osnat
Lanz, Urs
Moses, Michael
Kobel, Christian
Exadaktylos, Aristomenis K.
Ricklin, Meret E.
author_facet Kaeser, Dominic
Guerra, Rebekka
Keidar, Osnat
Lanz, Urs
Moses, Michael
Kobel, Christian
Exadaktylos, Aristomenis K.
Ricklin, Meret E.
author_sort Kaeser, Dominic
collection PubMed
description Workplace violence (WPV) by patients and visitors is a hazard in many emergency departments (ED), with serious consequences for both staff and patients. Patients with a migratory background seem to be prone to being involved in WPV. We therefore reviewed all reports of ED staff who experienced WPV over a 4-year period (2013–2016). We analyzed data on the reasons for the incident, the time of day, the manner of violence, the consequences, and the migratory background of the aggressor. In total, 83 cases of WPV were reported over a four-year period. The average age of the violent person was 33.1 years; in 35 cases (42.0%), aggressors were younger than 30 years old, 53 (63.8%) were male, 49 (59%) were of Swiss nationality, and 35–40% had a migratory background. The odds ratio of people originating from a low- to middle-income country versus those originating from a high-income country was 1.8. Furthermore, 45.8% of the patients arrived by ambulance (n = 38) and 19 patients (22.9%) were self-presenting. Most cases (92.8%) involved verbal aggression, but in more than half of the cases, physical assault (56.6%) was also reported. In addition, 43 (51.8%) of the events occurred during the night. Results also showed that 42 (50.6%) of patients who were involved in WPV were under the influence of alcohol and 29 (34.9%) suffered from psychiatric disorders. Security personnel and police were involved in 53 (63.9%) and 47 (56.6%) cases, respectively. Twenty patients (24.1%) were sedated and 16 (19.3%) were restrained. In 18 cases (21.7%), the psychiatrist ordered compulsory hospitalization in a psychiatric institution. Taken together, WPV is a relatively common event in our ED and persons with a migratory background are involved more often relative to their frequency of ED visits.
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spelling pubmed-60694382018-08-07 Verbal and Non-Verbal Aggression in a Swiss University Emergency Room: A Descriptive Study Kaeser, Dominic Guerra, Rebekka Keidar, Osnat Lanz, Urs Moses, Michael Kobel, Christian Exadaktylos, Aristomenis K. Ricklin, Meret E. Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Workplace violence (WPV) by patients and visitors is a hazard in many emergency departments (ED), with serious consequences for both staff and patients. Patients with a migratory background seem to be prone to being involved in WPV. We therefore reviewed all reports of ED staff who experienced WPV over a 4-year period (2013–2016). We analyzed data on the reasons for the incident, the time of day, the manner of violence, the consequences, and the migratory background of the aggressor. In total, 83 cases of WPV were reported over a four-year period. The average age of the violent person was 33.1 years; in 35 cases (42.0%), aggressors were younger than 30 years old, 53 (63.8%) were male, 49 (59%) were of Swiss nationality, and 35–40% had a migratory background. The odds ratio of people originating from a low- to middle-income country versus those originating from a high-income country was 1.8. Furthermore, 45.8% of the patients arrived by ambulance (n = 38) and 19 patients (22.9%) were self-presenting. Most cases (92.8%) involved verbal aggression, but in more than half of the cases, physical assault (56.6%) was also reported. In addition, 43 (51.8%) of the events occurred during the night. Results also showed that 42 (50.6%) of patients who were involved in WPV were under the influence of alcohol and 29 (34.9%) suffered from psychiatric disorders. Security personnel and police were involved in 53 (63.9%) and 47 (56.6%) cases, respectively. Twenty patients (24.1%) were sedated and 16 (19.3%) were restrained. In 18 cases (21.7%), the psychiatrist ordered compulsory hospitalization in a psychiatric institution. Taken together, WPV is a relatively common event in our ED and persons with a migratory background are involved more often relative to their frequency of ED visits. MDPI 2018-07-06 2018-07 /pmc/articles/PMC6069438/ /pubmed/29986402 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15071423 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Kaeser, Dominic
Guerra, Rebekka
Keidar, Osnat
Lanz, Urs
Moses, Michael
Kobel, Christian
Exadaktylos, Aristomenis K.
Ricklin, Meret E.
Verbal and Non-Verbal Aggression in a Swiss University Emergency Room: A Descriptive Study
title Verbal and Non-Verbal Aggression in a Swiss University Emergency Room: A Descriptive Study
title_full Verbal and Non-Verbal Aggression in a Swiss University Emergency Room: A Descriptive Study
title_fullStr Verbal and Non-Verbal Aggression in a Swiss University Emergency Room: A Descriptive Study
title_full_unstemmed Verbal and Non-Verbal Aggression in a Swiss University Emergency Room: A Descriptive Study
title_short Verbal and Non-Verbal Aggression in a Swiss University Emergency Room: A Descriptive Study
title_sort verbal and non-verbal aggression in a swiss university emergency room: a descriptive study
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6069438/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29986402
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15071423
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