As a healthcare professional did you know your job category is regularly subjected to some form of violence in the workplace? Sadly 61.9% of healthcare workers globally have been exposed to either physical or verbal workplace violence, coming from patients or visitors (from a 2019 statistic).
Let me share some real examples with you. As a triage nurse, I have been yelled at and threatened on countless occasions when the waiting room was full. As a ward nurse, I have been scratched and hit by patients combatting care. Last year, I was assaulted one morning, punched repeatedly by a delusional patient during an intervention with other colleagues. It shook me to the core. None of it is acceptable; every worker is entitled to be safe in the practice of their duties.
Should I just push through?
The short answer is No.
You are allowed to express emotions, process your own trauma, and obtain time and space to regulate and rest.
Sadly, workplace violence affects workers’ psychological health, the quality of patient care, and overall job satisfaction. Here are some symptoms you may encounter after an incident if you refuse to ignore the healing part:
Fear of returning to work
Spiraling thoughts
Insomnia
Feeling on edge, frustration, anger
Feelings of powerlessness
Loss of compassion for patients
Loss of interest in the work you normally enjoy.
How-to: what MUST happen if violence occurs in the workplace
Verbal abuse is inappropriate, full stop. Assault is criminal.
1- REPORT: There should be an incident report completed; you may need to give the police a statement and decide if you want to press charges. And yes, if handled correctly, security and/or police will be involved to protect you.
2- REMOVE: You should be removed from the situation. In most cases, especially if there was assault involved, the employee needs to be assessed by a physician. This way, if you sustain a physical or psychological injury, you will be able to access the required care under Work Cover Laws.
3- SUPPORT: This includes an initial debriefing session (as a team or 1:1 with a manager/peer), access to counseling sessions, and a plan to return to work. We encourage you to become familiar with the policies relating to health and safety in your own workplace; this way you can support colleagues (and yourself) when an incident occurs.
Trauma-release self-care practices
Do you need to find out more about looking after yourself in your wild workplace? If you are feeling overwhelmed, you can try this grounding exercise for an on-the-spot calming effect. It combines breathing, sensory, your body and it's free.
Science knows that the Broca area of the brain shuts down during overwhelming and traumatizing events (Van der Kolk), which is the area responsible for language. Thus, talk therapy is not always the most effective tool to release and clear trauma, as people are often "lost for words". Instead, therapists now promote mind-body strategies, such as:
- Gentle movement (yoga/dance/Qigong etc.), meditation, and deep breathing that slows down the overwhelmed nervous system and allows a tension release.
- Acupuncture or the use of pressure points to release tension accumulated in certain areas or energy channels around the body.
- EMDR, exercises involving eye movements and the cranial nerve, also to regulate the nervous system.
Trauma-aware practitioners value compassion during the healing process, this applies to a great deal of self-compassion. We encourage you to try something different and gauge how you feel overall.
Find more tools to manage overwhelm, stress and regulate your nervous system, here on the blog and on Instagram @amelied_wildhealthcare
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Sources you might like to read:
Liu J, Gan Y, Jiang H, et al Prevalence of workplace violence against healthcare workers: a systematic review and meta-analysis Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2019;76:927-937.
Frequency and Impacts of Verbal Abuse on Healthcare Workers in a Secondary Healthcare Structure in Greece (2023). Cureus. doi: 10.7759/cureus.35406
Oh Amelie. Thank you for writing this and sharing. I have come across this at the perfect timing as I am about to submit my paperwork to AHPRA to be re registered.
I will admit some of what I experienced in short 2 years of Nursing still sticks with me and gives me some anxiety about going back to work. Reading you article here gives me hope. A new perspective as to how I can emotionally and spiritually prepare and actually look forward to heading back. Please keep this all coming. I love what your doing.
P.S I'll miss working with you.
Tammy 💞