방문간호사가 경험하는 폭력의 특성과 예방대책

Abstract

Purpose: This study aims to reveal violence victimization of visiting nurses and investigate the coping and prevention strategies adopted by public institutions. Method: The data were collected over three weeks in 2017 using self-report questionnaires from 237 visiting nurses. Data were collected between August 23 and September 15, 2017. Result: Among the respondents, 74.7% had experienced some types of work-related violence during the past year. Verbal abuse (65.4%) was most common, followed by physical threat (46.8%), sexual abuse (43.9%), and physical violence (5.5%). The nurses perceived the most common cause of violation as socio-economic frustration of the offenders vented out on the nurses. Besides, most reported offenders had mental health problems. The two most effective measures to prevent violence faced by the nurses are terminating visiting services for the offenders and implementing the buddy system, which has rarely been used in practice. Conclusion: These findings show that visiting nurses are exposed to a risk of serious abuse in everyday work life, and the nurses themselves or institutions have failed to handle the violence, showing shaky responses at best. Therefore, it is necessary to establish internal regulations and systems at the institutional level that can help prevent violence against visiting nurses.