Nursing Practice: Workplace Violence and Implementation of Practice Change

This essay discusses the clinical problem of workplace violence in nursing practice, including its impact on nursing staff. It explores a strategic plan for implementing practice change and the use of the nursing process model. The essay also evaluates the methods of implementation and highlights the guidelines provided by OSHA to address workplace violence.

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Essay on Nursing Practice

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Clinical problem
Workplace violence is determined to be a persistent and complex clinical problem facing by the
nursing profession as the nurses has to deal with numerous issues such as, shooting, stabbing,
beating, stalking, harassment and intimidation (Friesen‐Storms, Moser, van der Loo, Beurskens
& Bours, 2015). It clearly indicates that these issues leads to physically as well as
psychologically damaging actions that happens within the workplace. Several examples of
workplace violence consist of a written or verbal threat, homicide, and physical harassment.
Workplace violence in nursing practice is considered as the major problem that has been largely
ignored. In the United States, it has been found that the number of type II assaults is increasing
every year (Copeland & Henry, 2017). Moreover, there possess various types of workplace
violence, such as hospital crime, 75% of aggravated assaults, and 93% of all assaults against the
staffs. The nurses of the emergency department reported the highest rate with 100% verbal
assault. The problem may have long-term effects like missed workdays, burnout, dissatisfaction
of job, and a decrease in the productivity of the nursing staffs (Phillips, 2016). Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has been introduced by the American Nurses
Association to prevent workplace violence.
Strategic plan for implementation of practice change
Particulars Build awareness Develop
knowledge
Stimulate
action
Follow
integration
Connect with
the clinicians
o Continue
education
programs
o Staff meetings
o Distribute key
evidence
o Highlight
compatibility
o Link
practice
change
o Change
agents
o Input by the
clinician
o Integrate
change with
EBP
protocols
o Skill
competence
o Try the
change into
practice
o Report
progress
o Provide
evaluation
outcomes
o Personalize
the message
to the staff
o Influenced
by peers
o Update
reminders
for practice
change
Developing
support for the
healthcare
system
o Announcement
s by the senior
clinicians
o Report to
the
supervisor
o Make an
o Patient
decision aids
o Link to the
needs of the
o Clinical
audit and
collect
feedback

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action plan patient o Revise the
EBP
protocol
The change in practice can be operated in the area of nursing practice by following steps –
o The nursing staffs requires to develop an effective strategy for communicating the change
to all the staff members and get feedback to manage the change (Najafi, Fallahi‐
Khoshknab, Ahmadi, Dalvandi & Rahgozar, 2018)
o All the nursing members are required to receive training for operating the change
effectively which may involve mentoring or online modules
o It is required to implement a support structure for helping the employees to adjust with
the changes as the change is made for the benefit of the nursing staffs
The Nursing process model will be used for implementing change in nursing practice. It involves
four steps for implementing change, such as assessment, planning, implementation, and
evaluation (Sanner-Stiehr & Ward-Smith, 2017). The first step is used to identify the issue and
collect the data. The second step includes the participation of the staffs that would be affected by
the change. The third step consists of the plan that is to put into action, and the last one
determines the desirable outcomes. The barriers to implementation can be overcome by defining
the issue and target, establish a measurement of performance, set defined goals, define an
effective change to practice, and develop a strategy to practice change.
Journals, articles, or websites are used as a source for internal evidence in getting data to
demonstrate improvement in outcomes.
Evaluation methods of implementation
The subjective method is one of the evaluation methods of implementation that has been used in
the paper which consist of a journal. The journal is related to the clinical problem of nursing
practice in the United States. It provides a detailed description of the clinical issue by using
statistics and facts. It also provided graphs showing the impact of workplace violence on the
nursing staffs. It has concluded that healthcare nurses must have the right to be safe while
executing their job. Effective steps should be taken for preventing workplace violence and
provide a safe working environment for the nurses. Few guidelines have been provided by

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OSHA for reducing the risks of the clinical issue in the area of nursing practice. Data sets have
not yet been collected for ascertaining the true extent of the issue because only 30% of the nurse
reports the issue of workplace violence to the senior administration. Underreporting of the
incidence is caused due to the resistant to the belief of the staffs. In the area of nursing practice,
the nurses, nursing students, and other staff members are the victims of workplace violence (Tee,
Özçetin & Russell-Westhead, 2016). Yes, there are ethical considerations that the participants
get data sheet with clear guidance to detail the scope of the study.

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References
Copeland, D., & Henry, M. (2017). Workplace violence and perceptions of safety among
emergency department staff members: Experiences, expectations, tolerance, reporting,
and recommendations. Journal of trauma nursing, 24(2), 65-77.
Friesen‐Storms, J. H., Moser, A., van der Loo, S., Beurskens, A. J., & Bours, G. J. (2015).
Systematic implementation of evidence‐based practice in a clinical nursing setting: a
participatory action research project. Journal of clinical nursing, 24(1-2), 57-68.
Najafi, F., Fallahi‐Khoshknab, M., Ahmadi, F., Dalvandi, A., & Rahgozar, M. (2018).
Antecedents and consequences of workplace violence against nurses: A qualitative
study. Journal of clinical nursing, 27(1-2), e116-e128.
Phillips, J. P. (2016). Workplace violence against health care workers in the United States. New
England journal of medicine, 374(17), 1661-1669.
Sanner-Stiehr, E., & Ward-Smith, P. (2017). Lateral violence in nursing: implications and
strategies for nurse educators. Journal of Professional Nursing, 33(2), 113-118.
Tee, S., Özçetin, Y. S. Ü., & Russell-Westhead, M. (2016). Workplace violence experienced by
nursing students: A UK survey. Nurse education today, 41, 30-35.