Violence against caregivers: kicking, hitting, spitting

Violent attacks are part of everyday life for many employees in clinics. This is the result of an online survey that Report Mainz and “Zeit Online” is available. In view of the problem, experts are calling for protection concepts.

More than 1000 clinic employees filled out the extensive questionnaire on physical attacks by patients and relatives. 81 percent say they have experienced physical violence at work. When asked how they were attacked, most responded with kicks. But there are also frequent punches, slaps in the face or attacks with objects.

Report Mainz and “Zeit Online” were able to speak to numerous nurses who took part in the survey. One of them is 28-year-old Chantalle from Hamburg. During her work in an intensive care unit, she has already experienced many violent attacks by patients: “Some are only verbally abusive. Then there are those who spit, who hit, who scratch.”

“Humiliating”

Many patients are drunk, are under drugs or come straight from a fight, are in a psychological state of emergency. The attacks are very stressful for the nurse, she reports in an interview with the ARD politics magazine: “It’s definitely humiliating. Especially because we want to help them. And when someone spat in your face as a thank you, that’s not nice.”

Many nurses feel the same way, says Katrin Hüster. She worked in nursing for around 20 years and is now campaigning for the rights of nursing staff. Together with the police officer Ramona Thiem, she created the survey on her own initiative and distributed it on Twitter.

The reason for the survey were descriptions by nurses that were published on Twitter under the hashtag #respectnurses. Hospital employees report on experiences of violence with patients and relatives, describe massive attacks, and publish pictures of their injuries – including bruises and scratches. “It was frightening for me what intensity there is – both in terms of the quality of the attack and the injury pictures, some of which arose. Based on these tweets on Twitter, my guess was that the dark field is enormous,” says Ramona Thiem.

For Kathrin Hüster, the results show that violence in nursing is not a niche phenomenon: “That is the big, big part. No matter who you talk to, you will say: Yes, I’ve already experienced violence, physical violence.” And the respondents did not name psychiatry as the main culprit, as one might assume: “First and foremost come the normal wards, then comes the central emergency room, then comes the intensive care unit and then at some point comes psychiatry,” says Hüster.

Survey confirms previous studies

The private poll on Twitter is not representative. But the result is consistent with earlier scientific studies. The professional association for health and welfare services (BGW) came to a very similar result in a survey of employees in 81 clinics. In this study, 80 percent of the nurses said they had experienced violence within the previous twelve months, 70 percent of them physical violence.

The psychologist Claudia Vaupel from the BGW trade association has supervised numerous studies on this problem and explained that everyday experiences of violence are the cause of numerous illnesses and disorders. From depression to sleep disorders “to a post-traumatic stress disorder requiring treatment”. It also happens again and again that nurses give up their job completely after experiencing violence.

A taboo subject in many clinics

A major problem is that the violence is not openly discussed. This is how many nurses experience it, such as Torsten from Northern Germany: “You just don’t like to talk about it. According to the motto: Well, somehow that’s part of our job.”

Claudia Vaupel from the employers’ liability insurance association confirms this: “It is actually true that it is unfortunately somehow part of the job because the numbers are so frighteningly high. But nonetheless, a nurse does not have to accept violent incidents at work. So every employee in Germany has a right to a safe and healthy workplace. And so companies have to take care of this issue. ”

Requirement: prevention and protection concepts

But many clinics do not do that, criticizes nursing scientist Prof. Martina Hasseler: “From my point of view, many employers simply do not understand that they have a duty of care towards the nursing professions. Many clinics treat violence against nursing professionals as a taboo topic because in my opinion they are afraid for their reputation. ” She calls on politicians and hospitals to better protect nursing staff overall.

When asked whether there should be non-mandatory prevention and protection concepts at all hospitals and on all wards, the hospital society sees no urgent need for action and explains: “The level of violence in hospitals varies greatly depending on the location suitable concepts developed. ”

The Federal Ministry of Health sees the problem, but does not explain the policy, rather the clinics are responsible for protecting their employees.