Original Research

Verbal abuse of nurses by physicians in a private sector setting

E Joubert, A du Rand, N van Wyk
Curationis | Vol 28, No 3 | a979 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/curationis.v28i3.979 | © 2005 E Joubert, A du Rand, N van Wyk | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 28 September 2005 | Published: 28 September 2005

About the author(s)

E Joubert, University of Pretoria, South Africa
A du Rand, Department of nursing science, University of Pretoria, South Africa
N van Wyk, Department of nursing science, University of Pretoria, South Africa

Full Text:

PDF (276KB)

Abstract

The aim of the study was to determine whether physicians in a private sector setting verbally abuse nurses, and to what extent. A review of the literature showed that verbal abuse by physicians accounts for the highest incidence of aggression towards nurses in health care, and that it is strongly related to turnover rates. It has also been reported in recent studies that within the context of verbally abusive episodes, patient care, work productivity, morale and job satisfaction have been negatively affected.
Of the 120 questionnaires that were distributed among registered and enrolled nurses, 83 were returned in time to be used, which was a response rate of 69%. This response rate is consistent with previous studies and is exactly the same as for a study that was done in Turkey (Uzun, 2003:81). The questionnaire used was one that has been adapted from the Verbal Abuse Scale developed by Manderino and Berkey (1997:50) and the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS 2) as described by Little (1999:24), and was in the form of a 4-point Likert-scale with one open ended question.
The results showed that 79% of the nurses admitted that verbal abuse was taking place. Forms of direct verbal abuse included 81 % that felt they were criticised unjustly, 76% that were screamed at in front of others, and 81 % that felt physicians vented their frustration on them.
The results obtained in the study were consistent with previous studies done elsewhere and it indicated that nurses still experience high levels of verbal abuse in the workplace.

Keywords

No related keywords in the metadata.

Metrics

Total abstract views: 5932
Total article views: 6093

 

Crossref Citations

1. Turkish Nurses' Experiences of Verbal Abuse at Work
Sezer Kisa
Archives of Psychiatric Nursing  vol: 22  issue: 4  first page: 200  year: 2008  
doi: 10.1016/j.apnu.2007.06.013

2. Perceived aggression towards nurses: study in two Italian health institutions
Alessandra Zampieron, Marilena Galeazzo, Susanna Turra, Alessandra Buja
Journal of Clinical Nursing  vol: 19  issue: 15-16  first page: 2329  year: 2010  
doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2702.2009.03118.x

3. Prevalence and predictors of workplace violence against nurses in Africa: A systematic review and meta‐analysis
Emmanuel Ekpor, Emmanuel Kobiah, Samuel Akyirem
Health Science Reports  vol: 7  issue: 4  year: 2024  
doi: 10.1002/hsr2.2068

4. Operating room nurses’ perception of professional relationships
Zahra Mostafapour, Camellia Torabizadeh, Seyed Alireza Moayedi, Narjes Nick
Perioperative Care and Operating Room Management  vol: 26  first page: 100231  year: 2022  
doi: 10.1016/j.pcorm.2021.100231

5. Investigation of the Effect of ACT-SMART on Nurses’ Perceived Level of Violence Management in Emergency Section
Mahdi Bodagh, Amin Talebi, Bita Falahi
Preventive Care In Nursing and Midwifery Journal  vol: 9  issue: 4  first page: 39  year: 2020  
doi: 10.52547/pcnm.9.4.39

6. Violence against Nursing Students in the Workplace: An Iranian Experience
Samira Samadzadeh, Masoumeh Aghamohammadi
International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship  vol: 15  issue: 1  year: 2018  
doi: 10.1515/ijnes-2016-0058

7. Factors and Characteristics of Workplace Violence Against Nurses: A Study in Iran
Sahar Dehghan-Chaloshtari, Arash Ghodousi
Journal of Interpersonal Violence  vol: 35  issue: 1-2  first page: 496  year: 2020  
doi: 10.1177/0886260516683175

8. Positive practice environments influence job satisfaction of primary health care clinic nursing managers in two South African provinces
Pascalia Ozida Munyewende, Laetitia Charmaine Rispel, Tobias Chirwa
Human Resources for Health  vol: 12  issue: 1  year: 2014  
doi: 10.1186/1478-4491-12-27

9. Aggressive behaviour and its prevalence within five typologies
Gerard Crotty, Owen Doody, Rosemary Lyons
Journal of Intellectual Disabilities  vol: 18  issue: 1  first page: 76  year: 2014  
doi: 10.1177/1744629513511356

10. A survey of nurses who experienced trauma in the workplace: influence of coping strategies on traumatic stress
Etsuko Niiyama, Hitoshi Okamura, Akitsugu Kohama, Takahide Taniguchi, Mitsuhiko Sounohara, Mitsushiro Nagao
Stress and Health  vol: 25  issue: 1  first page: 3  year: 2009  
doi: 10.1002/smi.1217

11. Professionalism and the work-life balance
Thomas S. Huber
Journal of Vascular Surgery  vol: 60  issue: 4  first page: 1072  year: 2014  
doi: 10.1016/j.jvs.2014.04.077

12. Frequency of the Type of Workplace Violence Against Hamadan Medical Emergency Technicians and Its Relationship with Individual and Occupational Variables, 2018
Roya Amini, Nahid Mohammadi, Fardin Karaji, Leili Tapak
Avicenna Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Care  vol: 27  issue: 6  first page: 381  year: 2020  
doi: 10.30699/ajnmc.27.6.381

13. The prevalence of verbal aggression against nurses
Sue McLaughlin, Lyn Gorley, Laurence Moseley
British Journal of Nursing  vol: 18  issue: 12  first page: 735  year: 2009  
doi: 10.12968/bjon.2009.18.12.42888

14. Influence of Verbal Abuse on Job Stress for Special Unit Nurses and General Ward Nurses in General Hospitals
Yang-Ok Kim, Yeo-Jin Yi
Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration  vol: 23  issue: 3  first page: 323  year: 2017  
doi: 10.11111/jkana.2017.23.3.323

15. Self-assessment by medical workers of the degree of influence of working conditions on the development of occupational diseases
N. N. Petrukhin, O. N. Andreenko, I. V. Boyko, S. V. Grebenkov
Russian Journal of Occupational Health and Industrial Ecology  issue: 8  first page: 463  year: 2019  
doi: 10.31089/1026-9428-2019-59-8-463-467