Razi Journal of Medical Sciences

  Background & Aim: The stressful environment of the emergency department exposes the staff to the hazards posed by physical and verbal violence.This can affect not only the job security and satisfaction among the personnel but also the service and care offered to the patients. This study has been designed to determine the incidence rate of physical and verbal violence inflicted by patients and their companions on the emergency department personnel of Hazrate-e-Rasoul Hospital in the fourth trimester of the year 1385.

  Patients and Method: In this cross-sectional descriptive study, all the emergency department staff of Hazrat-e-Rasoul Hospital were asked to fill in a questionnaire about experiencing physical and verbal violence in the last trimester of the year 1385. 166 respondents included 17 attending physicians, 33 residents, 15 interns, 32 nurses, 15 ancillary staff, 20 laboratory technicians, 10 radiology technicians, 18 security guards and 6 orderlies. Data were collected and analyzed using SPSS software version 15 , t-test and Chi-square.

  Results: The mean age of the staff was 32.20‌±7.67 years. 39% of the subjects were female and 61% were male. 77.5% had experienced verbal or physical violence at least once.The mean rate of verbal violence in the fourth trimester of the year 1385 was 31.1 times. 74% of verbal assaults were committed by men and 26% by women. 15.93% of the emergency department staff had experiences of physical violence in this trimester, and in 78% of the cases the violent person was a man and in 22% of the cases a woman. 13% of the emergency staff felt a high degree of security during their shift work, 52% felt a moderate degree of security, 27% felt a low grade of security and 8% felt no security during their shift work. 96.15% of the staff had received no education in this regard, and 87.4% reported that they think security measures provided to decrease violence in emergency department are insufficient.

  Conclusion: This study shows that the incidence of violence in emergency department is high and this is a concern for the emergency department staff. Most of the violent behaviors which were displayed by patients’ companions can be controled by considering a good waiting area for them and avoiding their crowding in the ward.