Workplace Violence among Nursing Staff and Their Relationship with the Quality of Care in Public Hospitals

Abstract

Introduction: Workplace violence among nursing personnel in hospitals constitutes a public health problem, indirectly affecting the quality of care.

Objective: To determine the relationship of workplace violence among nursing staff and the quality of care in public hospitals.

Methods: á Descriptive, correlational and cross-sectional study was carried out in two public hospitals in Mexico from August to September 2017. The sample consisted of 161 nurses and 117 patients. We used Cisneros Barometer and the Caring Assessment Instrument to measure the variables of interest; means, standard deviation and frequencies were obtained for descriptive data, Spearman's correlation coefficient and Contingency coefficients and Chi squared to determine the relationship.

Results: Female predominated (85.70%), with a mean age of 35.67 years, 45.90% worked the night shift, 79.40% of the participants referred not having experienced workplace violence, inequitable evaluation was the most frequent workplace violence strategy. Regarding patients, more than 50% reported quality of care. The Spearman Correlation Coefficient did not show statistical significance (p> 0.05).

Conclusion: Nursing staff are not familiar with the conceptualization of workplace violence, so it is likely that the majority have experienced it, but did not report it, for fear of reprisals.