Occurrence of patients’ aggressive behaviours towards nurses and paramedics

Introduction: Aggression is a complex phenomenon, which can take various forms. In recent years an intensi-fication in patients’ aggressive behaviours toward medical staff has been observed. It should be the reason for further research in this field. Aim of the study: To estimate the prevalence of patients’ aggressive behaviours towards nurses and paramedics. Material and methods: The study was conducted in two hospitals in the Małopolska region. The study group included 99 nurses working at the emergency department, surgical, internal, and orthopaedic wards and 13 paramedics from the emergency department. A diagnostic survey method was performed using a self-developed questionnaire. Statistical analysis was performed using χ 2 test and Spearman test. The significance level was p = 0.05. Results: The staff were quite often exposed to patients’ aggressive behaviours in the workplace. The various types of physical violence were often experienced by 8.0% of respondents. More than 1/4 of the group faced different forms of verbal aggression. Medical staff working at emergency department experienced verbal aggression much more frequently than the group from other wards ( p < 0.05). Although some respondents declared their participation in communication courses, no significant result of such training in decreasing exposure to patients’ aggression has been shown. Conclusions: The occurrence of patient aggression towards nurses and medical rescuers, especially on emergency departments, was quite common and usually manifested in the form of verbal aggression. Preparation for dealing with aggressive patients was insufficient in the examined group.