Violência ocupacional contra profissionais de saúde em um hospital de urgência. natal/rn, 2009

Descriptive exploratory study, with quantitative approach, with data collected from April to May 2009, aiming to identify the types of occupational violence affecting professionals on the nursing and medical staff in an emergency hospital service in Natal/RN, over the last 12 months; to identify emergency sectors where occupational violence episodes took place; to characterize aggressors on each type of occupational violence; to know the procedures adopted after each violent act targeting nursing and medical staff professionals; and to know the consequences of violence suffered by the nursing and medical staff professionals. The sample consisted of 26 nurses, 95 nursing assistants/technicians and 124 physicians, for a total of 245 professionals. The results showed that 50.61% of the professionals were women, aged 41 to 45 (22.45%), with post-graduate studies (51.43%), married (60.82%); 21.22% had 16 to 20 years of experience in the profession and in emergency practice; working 40 weekly hours (86.12%); and working both the day shift and the night shift (70.21%); 27.35% consider violence to be a part of their profession and the patient s companions as an important risk factor (86.53%); couldn t inform whether there was a specific established procedure for reporting occupational violence (45.71%); 73.06% suffered occupational violence in the 12 months; 70.20% verbal assault, 24.08% moral harassment, 6.12% physical assault, and 3.67% sexual harassment; 66.67% of the patients took part in the physical assault; the companions, in verbal assault (58.14%); and the health staff in moral harassment (69.49%); facing episodes violence, 37.65% of the professionals reported the fact to their co-workers; 57.25% uffered from stress as a consequence; on 4.71% of the episodes the professionals had to be bsent from work, resulting in 75 days of occupational violence-related absence. We conclude here was a high rate of occupational violence in the researched population, with verbal ssault and moral harassment as the most frequent violence types. Because factors related to ccupational violence were very diverse, actions seeking to confront this problem shouldn t be limited to the work environment itself. Education ought to be one of the most effective ctions for avoiding or minimizing these events occurrence

A violência no contexto de um serviço de urgência: análise do processo de cuidar na visão das vítimas e profissionais de saúde em Natal/RN

Exploratory descriptive study, with a quantitative approach and prospective data, performed in Pronto Socorro Clóvis Sarinho (PSCS), in Natal/RN, aiming to analyze care given by the nursing and medical staff to victims of violence attended to in an emergency hospital in Natal/RN; to identify care given by the nursing and medical staff as viewed by the victims; to compare data observed during the process of care with the victim s view on the care given by the nursing and medical staff; to identify the existing knowledge on violence and the process of caring for victims and its relation with prejudice; to identify obstacles and perspectives for prevention during the process of caring for victims in the emergency services. The population consisted of 97 physicians, 16 nurses, 75 nursing technicians and assistants and 365 victims of violence, with data collected from April to May 2009. Out of 188 professionals, 52.1% are female; 32% were aged 41 to 50; 99.5% had given care to a victim of violence; 90.4% reported to have given care to patients under custody; among these, 17.3% felt prejudice; 55.3% stated they don t provide different care for assaulted victims and assailants, however 44.7% stated they do; 86.7% feel their workplace is unsafe; 61.7% denied the existence of any obstacle and 38.3% reported the existence of obstacles; among these, 26.1% referred to inadequate facilities; 37.8% believe reinforcing security and professional training are the main solutions. Among the 365 researched violence victims, 82.2% were assaulted; male (69.6%); aged 18 to 24 (24.9%); hailing from the Greater Natal area (89.9%); on 19.7% the event happened on Saturday; during the night (48.8%); victim of physical assault (61.4%); produced by body force (27.7%); 24.4% were injured in the head and neck. 57% had used some drug, among which alcohol was predominant (75.5%). On 621 observations performed during the victim care process, when compared to the report of assaulted victims, there was a statistical difference, at 5% significance level, regarding reception, resistance from the professionals, questioning about the violent event, providing of guidance, interaction with the patient and the understanding of receiving proper care, and care resolution. In comparisons involving the observed and the assailant victims reports, there was a statistical difference regarding the resence of resistance from the professionals, performance of necessary procedures and the nteraction with the patient and the understanding of receiving proper care and 58.1% reported the nursing team was the one that provided the best care. We conclude that professionals had lready given care to assailant patients, acknowledge the importance of knowing how the vent took place and acquired this preparation during their practice. The most often referred bstacles that hinder assistance were: inadequate facilities, material deficit and lack of rofessional preparation. As solutions for these problems, they cited the reinforcement of ecurity and professional training