Overview of Violence against Nursing Staff in Saudi Arabia: Simple Review Article

Nurses are the primary care givers in hospitals and are more likely to encounter violence because of the amount of time spent in direct patient care. This study aimed to explore recent workplace violence literature against nurses in Saudi Arabia in terms of prevalence, precipitating factors and recommendations for prevention. PubMed, Web of Science, Science Direct, EBSCO, SCOPUS, Wiley, and Cochrane Library were searched. Study articles were screened by title and abstract then a full-text assessment was implemented. Violence against nurses could be in various forms of aggression and bullying that often manifests as verbal abuse, physical abuse, and emotional torture, which is cruel, rude, vindictive, humiliating and/or offensive. It is a public health and legal problem. Nurses are most of the healthcare workforce in Saudi Arabia, and more likely to encounter violence. Violence against nurses impairs job performance after the incident. It also reduces job satisfaction and may compel nurses to leave their job. Perpetrators are found to be patients, relatives, and co-workers. Improving health security system and increasing staffing and their training on proper dealing with violence are highly recommended. Also, enforcing rules and regulations is an important demand to control and prevent violence against health care workers.