Violent Behavior in Healthcare Institutions - Essay Example

"Violent Behavior in Healthcare Institutions" is an excellent example of a paper on the health system.
In the contemporary world, healthcare professionals especially those who directly deal with patients, face greater health hazards and safety issues concerning violent behavior whereas prolonged violence might also result in the death of the victim. Research indicates that such fatal incidents have greatly reduced in the Healthcare Institutions of America in the last few years. However, non-fatal violent behavior still acts as a significant threat to the nurses and other human service providers (Anderson, 2011). Workplace violence can be categorized into different forms depending on the nature of the healthcare institute, characteristics of patients, and external environment, for instance, physical assault and verbal abuse are experienced by most of the medical staff. Violent behavior particularly in the mental healthcare setting has become a reality and also a major concern for both healthcare providers and policymakers. Therefore mental illness and psychological issues are thought to be the precipitating factors of violent behavior among patients.

This paper aims to discuss the basic factors giving rise to sadistic behavior in healthcare institutions along with the responsibilities of medical staff and dynamics of violence. Moreover, the intervention strategies and effective methods to follow up with victims shall also be discussed.

Precipitating Factors

There are a number of factors contributing to the violent behavior of patients and physical assault of medical staff in Healthcare Institutions. Human Service providers in general and nurses, in particular, are often exposed to critical conditions where they need to identify the precipitating factors of violent behavior in order to make security measures and also to safeguard the victims. Following are the most common factors which excite violent behavior among patients:

Mental Illness: Mental illness is an abnormal psychological pattern that often leads to behavioral issues. There are different forms of mental illness that might result in violent behavior against healthcare professionals. For instance, delusions have a very close relationship with violence since these patients frequently experience physical or mental insecurity due to which they harm others in order to save themselves. However, in this case, anger contributes as the major element to excite the violent behavior. Study shows that Delusions might cause minor forms of violence but the extreme violent behavior is usually supported by anger which is a personality disorder (Coid, 2013). Another important precipitating factor is a hallucination which causes an individual to feel, hear or visualize things that aren’t present. In such a situation patients who do not have command over the hallucinations harm the medical staff while others do not pose any significant threat to the service providers (McNiel, 2000). Violent fantasies such as the desire to murder or rape also lead to aggressive behavior if not addressed on time. Homicides in a healthcare setting are often due to violent fantasies (Gellerman, 2005). 

Organic Issues: These largely include diseases and injuries related to the brain. Patients with organic brain issues are reported to have been involved in violent behavior. For instance, Dementia causes damage to the memory, speaking abilities, problem-solving skills, and other significant brain functions of an individual which ultimately leads to aggression and sadistic conduct. Similarly, brain injuries caused by accidents might also lead to considerable behavioral changes which might transform an individual into a violent personality (Fountoulakis, 2008).    

Personality Disorders: These occupy the largest proportion as precipitating factors of violent behavior against healthcare service providers. Mood swings, anger, impulsivity, lack of control over emotions, psychopathy, etc. are the most common examples of personality disorders. Research indicates that issues concerning the social life of an individual usually lead to violent behavior. For instance, antisocial individuals or those at the borderline are found to be more aggressive and brutal than others. Moreover, the violent behavior becomes severe when substance abuse is present along with antisocial personality disorder (Fountoulakis, 2008). 

Institutional/Stuff Culpability

Healthcare service providers and institutional heads are highly responsible to act against healthcare violence and also to extend maximum safety to the medical staff. In this regard, professionals are required to make standards that are equally applied and experimented with throughout the industry. This should be followed by assessing workplace violence, identifying the precipitating factors, making related intervention strategies, training the employees, and successfully implementing the programs against violent behavior (Lynch, 2010).

Dynamics of Violence in Human Services Setting

The dynamics of workplace violence in healthcare institutions are not limited to the characteristics of patients having different clinical issues. However, it does include other factors such as the external environment and the organizational policies. Violence has different forms and transitions and if the precipitating factor is not addressed on time then even minor violent behavior might change into physical assault and verbal abuse. This might also lead to homicides or irreversible human damage. Furthermore, the dynamics of violence in the healthcare setting also revolves around the social setup, gender, economical aspects, etc. Nurses are reported to have been a victim of violent behavior due to language, color or cultural differences (Holmes, 2011).  

Intervention Strategies

Following intervention strategies can be implemented against the violence in healthcare institutions as per the phase of the incident (McPhaul, 2004):

• Management and medical staff must be aware of different forms of violence and mere details about their patients before any assault take place. Learning and training through past incidents and acts of violence are crucial. Moreover, weapons and similar items which can be used during violence should be immediately removed.
• Escape options and communicating tools such as alarms and phones must be available to the nursing staff and other medical professionals so as to deal with the assault.
• After the violent assault, the patient and victim both should be given instant aid and counseling. Additionally, the physical environment of offenders must be changed and employees must be trained for future possible physical attacks.  

Follow up with Victims

Maintaining follow-up with victims is highly significant since people who have suffered verbal or physical violence often become psychologically depressed and later get involved in brutality. This can be effectively done through prolonged sessions of counseling and medical aid (Holmes, 2011).