Who cares for nurses? : The lived experience of workplace aggression

Aggression within the health industry has been wideiy reported as a serious problem with registered nurses frequently being on the receiving end of physical, verbal and sexual abuse. Some authors have reported aggression is so prevalent nurses accept it as part of their job. What has not been recorded is the impact of workplace aggression on the professional and emotional status of nurses as reported by nurses themselves. This study utilized a phenomenological approach involving in-depth interviews and thematic analysis to gain insights into how 33 nurses responded to workplace aggression. Three shared themes, professional incompetency, expectation to cope and emotional confusion, which encapsulate the meanings conveyed by nurses to being victims of aggression were identified. The themes serve to remind both individual nurses and the nursing profession as awhole to become more aware of the impact of workplace aggression and its relevance for themselves, their colleagues and the profession. Thus, nurses should be educated through in-service or continuing education programs that admission to negative emotions is acceptable and to develop coping strategies that deal effectively with their feelings of anger or frustration. Perhaps the most important implication emanating from this investigation is that the profession as awhole should become aware of the extent of the problem and the role nurse colleagues, nurse managers and medical staff play in its genesis.C