Audience
The targeted audience for this policy paper is policymakers since they are responsible for creating laws addressing issues facing society members. Nurses are vital healthcare providers due to their role in the treatment process. The practitioners are responsible for patients from the moment they are admitted and ensure that their clients receive the best care and achieve positive outcomes. Their contribution to healthcare organizations is the most significant in the sector, making it essential to address their issues promptly. The healthcare sector in Saudi Arabia is responsible for the well-being of all its professionals, including nurses who experience workplace violence (Alharthy et al., 2017). The policy paper also targets executives and leaders in healthcare to ensure they are appraised about the issue and recommendations to address it.
Definition of the Problem
Workplace violence is any form of threat or act of violence against another individual in work settings. Interpersonal violence is common among humans and has been recorded throughout man’s history (Escribano et al., 2019). All forms of aggression interfere with the well-being of workers due to the impacts they cause. Occupational violence is a challenge that is well-documented in research where violence in different settings is assessed (Salvador et al., 2020). The prevalence of workplace violence in healthcare settings has become an issue due to the high number of reports from professionals. Approximately 25% of nurses have reported being physically assaulted by patients or family members (Al-Qadi, 2021). Studies across the world on the issue have reported verbal abuse to be the most prevalent. A recent article on workplace violence against nurses in Saudi Arabia revealed that 90.3% of nurses experienced violence, with 57.7% of the practitioners experiencing physical and verbal abuse (Basfr et al., 2019). Patients were the primary perpetrators of assault in the settings, recording 81.3% prevalence in the study (Basfr et al., 2019). The statistics in this study and others on the same issue reveal the significance of the problem.
Past Solutions
Interventions of violence are primarily focused on after they occur. Most healthcare organizations have adopted measures to help their professionals overcome assaults when they occur. These include consultation and other forms of support from employers. Adopted interventions include investigating reported assaults on nurses to determine the perpetrators and the necessary cause of action. Nurse Managers, the human resource department, and leaders responsible for the well-being of nurses usually investigate cases and recommend causes of action depending on the perpetrator and nature of the abuse (Guan, 2017). Training and educating nurses are other interventions being used in healthcare organizations. The intervention identifies that working in clinical settings increases the risk of assault and the need for interventions. Training nurses about the issue allows them to know what to do when it happens and introduces self-prevention mechanisms like ensuring that nurses do not attend to unaccompanied patients. Past interventions have also included multicomponent measures like changes to the organization and providing the proper mechanism to prevent and deal with the issue when it occurs (Somani et al., 2021). Despite the existence of these interventions, occupational violence is highly prevalent in Saudi Arabia and requires interventions.
Contributing Factors
Several factors cause workplace violence against nurses in clinical settings. Misunderstandings between patients and practitioners are the most reported cause of violence against professionals. Communication is vital in healthcare provision since it facilitates the exchange of information with patients. The lack of proper communication causes violence when dealing with patients due to their situation (Aljohani, 2021). Patients expect their care providers to understand them and provide necessary care, which may not be achieved when misunderstandings occur. Misunderstanding can also emerge from other areas like failure to cultural incompetence and lack of sufficient knowledge about the patient. Another factor contributing to the prevalence of violence against nurses is that abusers are rarely held accountable for their actions. Workplace violence is also facilitated by poor management of the cases (Sisawo et al., 2017). Failure to inform patients about their rights when receiving care and the boundaries of their rights contributes to the issue. Most patients who are violent against nurses do not know their rights and the constraints of the rights holder.
Problem Focal Component
Workplace violence continues to prevail due to the lack of proper interventions to prevent and deal with cases when they emerge. The causes of the issue clearly show that it prevails due to the lack of mechanisms to address it adequately. Practitioners do not sufficiently meet proper communication and knowledge of patient rights. Failures in communication facilitate violence and can lead to poor care. The lack of action against perpetrators is a cause of occupational abuse to nurses as it encourages patients and others who engage in the behavior to continue. The lack of legal proceedings against abusers allows injustice to prevail. Managers also facilitate the problem by failing to ensure proper investigations and action to deal with such events. The high prevalence should have several individuals being tried and action taken against them, but current trends indicate that abusers tend to avoid consequences. Therefore, the focal cause of the issue is the lack of prevention measures and mechanisms to address the problem.
Stakeholders
Nurses are the primary stakeholders in this problem. They are directly affected by the prevalence of workplace violence. The practitioners are victims of occupational violence and require interventions to avoid further incidents. Nurses are essential stakeholders since they know what they experience during and after the violence (Al-Qadi, 2021). The professionals are vital, given that they are primary care providers for hospitals. Their role in treatment is critical and required in every step of care provision. The issue’s high prevalence impacts them, affecting their ability to fulfill their roles as care providers. It is also essential to note that violence affects individuals in all aspects of their lives, which implies that the well-being of nurses is affected outside the workplace.
Healthcare organizations and the healthcare sector are stakeholders in the problem. Medical facilities rely on nurses and other professionals to provide healthcare services to their patients (Al Anazi et al., 2020). Their dependence on nurses is crucial since nurses are the primary caregivers. Workplace violence leads to interference in the quality and ability to work, reduces productivity, and leads to other outcomes like high turnover (Legesse et al., 2022). The occurrence of occupational violence presents a significant challenge to the healthcare sector. Nurse shortage is a crucial issue in Saudi Arabia, and the incidence of the problem in healthcare organizations can cause high turnover (Alharthy et al., 2017). Losing nurses at a time when the sector should be recruiting more primary care providers aggravates the problem the industry is already facing. Other stakeholders include patients and their families, who are affected when nurses cannot perform their duties as expected due to the impacts of workplace violence. The problem compromises the quality of care and patient outcomes. Society is also a stakeholder in the issue since nurses play a vital role in the health of community members. A lack of sufficient nurses will lead to adverse outcomes on their well-being.
Policy Options
Alternative 1: No change: No interventions required to address workplace violence against nurses
Current policies lack proper structures to prevent workplace violence on nurses and systems that can deal with the issue. Policies have not paid a lot of attention to professionals in the sector. Most healthcare organizations require practitioners to report cases of abuse for investigations and provision of support. These measures have not been effective since nurses still experience a high rate of workplace violence and require better interventions. Failing to change current policies implies that nurses will continue to face abuse from patients and colleagues. It means that the adverse outcomes of the issue will continue to affect all stakeholders in the healthcare sector. It will interfere with the marketability of the profession for younger generations who will not want to experience violence.
Alternative 2: Propose legislation requiring that all workplace violence perpetrators in healthcare should face criminal charges
The option aims to deal with abusers who take advantage of nurses. It proposes to ensure that there is legislation that will deal with any case of workplace violence committed against a nurse. The legislation should ensure the presence of robust investigations into the event and every abuse prosecuted to ensure justice for nurses. It will be essential in deterring individuals who are fond of abusing nurses. The measure will help protect nurses from exposure to abuse.
Alternative 3: Propose legislation that healthcare organizations should implement structures that ensure the security of nurses at all times in their premises
The measure ensures that healthcare organizations and managers take greater responsibility for protecting their professionals. It aims to ensure healthcare organizations have mechanisms to help reduce and eliminate workplace abuse. Giving healthcare organizations greater responsibility helps make employers more attentive to nurses’ issues. Various measures can be taken to ensure the security of nurses when seeing patients and interacting with colleagues. The proposal helps to ensure that nurses can work with patients and their colleagues without the fear of abuse.
Evaluation Criteria
The projected policy outcomes will be evaluated through three criteria. The first is the effectiveness of each proposed intervention to address the issue. Effectiveness will be measured through direct outcomes before and after the policy implementation. The first alternative suggests no action should be taken, which implies that the current prevalence of the problem will be measured against outcomes after a specific period. The second and third alternatives will measure prevalence before and after their implementation. The second criterion is relevance to the issue. The proposed policy intervention aims to address the problem directly, especially the second and third interventions. Relevance is based on the ability of the policy to resolve the problem and whether the issue is of relevance to the healthcare to warrant the intervention. The third criterion is impact and sustainability. Impact refers to the outcomes that will be achieved from the proposed intervention. Sustainability is the ability of the policy to continue to be effective after implementation.
Analysis of the Proposed Policy Alternatives
The first policy alternative will not achieve any changes to the problem. It assumes that the status quo is appropriate and the issue is not relevant. Based on three criteria, the alternative is not effective since it allows the problem to persist. It is not relevant since it does not address the issue and it lacks an impact or sustainability. The alternative does not have any benefits, and its greatest drawback is the fact that is does not address the problem in any way. The second and third alternatives are effective and relevant to the issue since they address the issue directly. They have a positive impact on addressing the issue and can be sustainable based on their implementation. The only drawback of the two alternatives will be the cost of implementation. Healthcare organizations will be required to allocate significant resources toward their implementation. However, they are beneficial since they address the issue and the adverse outcomes associated with it.
Summary
Workplace violence is a significant issue that affects many nurses. The prevalence of the issue is high in Saudi Arabia and across the world. Several studies have been done on it with the outcomes revealing verbal violence is the most prevalent. The causes of the issue vary from misunderstandings to the lack of effective interventions to address them. The policy proposals in this paper present feasible solutions that can be adopted in the country. Two interventions have the potential to address the problem if they are implemented effectively.
References
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