Nurses are assaulted on a daily basis. Some nurses died from their injuries or suffers the long-term consequences of assaults, such as eye injuries, back injuries, and psychological trauma. Long-term exposure to violence leads to social, emotional and psychological distress (Chapman, Perry, Styles, & Combs, 2009). Nurses are unable to share their experiences because of various reasons there are states such as NY which enacted the Violence Against Nurses law, a physical attack against an Registered Nurse or License Practical Nurse on duty is a Class D felony, subject to a maximum of seven years in prison.
Nurses are now named among the already protected groups of police officers, firefighters and emergency responders. The New York State Senate passed the legislation in January 2010, effective November 1, 2010. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, nearly 500,000 nurses each year become victims of violent crimes in the workplace. Most commonly reported acts of violence include spitting, biting, hitting and shoving.
Have you are any one you know experience the phenomena of workplace assault by a patient while working in a psychiatric setting? If so, I would like to interview you for a research study that I am conducting.
"This study has been approved by Capella University's IRB[IRBNet ID: 142392], effective from December 13,2011 through March 13, 2012."
The purpose of the study is to describe the meaning and experience of registered nurses who were assaulted by their patients in psychiatric settings. The researcher wants to gain a deeper understanding of what it is like for registered nurses who were assaulted by a patient while on duty. If you volunteer to be in the study, you must meet the following inclusion criteria:
Be a registered nurse who worked in a psychiatric setting and volunteer to be interviewed
You have experienced assaults by a patient while on duty within the past seven years to present.
You read, write, and speak English and you are between the ages of 18 to 65.
For this study, being punched, kicked, verbally threatened, and harassed are examples of assaults. Exclusion criteria: If you do not meet the description above, you are not able to be in the study.
Before you can start the study, the researcher will talk to you about the study. Then you must sign a consent form before you begin the study. After you sign the consent form, the researcher will asked you to give personal information about yourself, such as your age, gender occupation, education level, etc. The researcher will audio tape record your interview. The researcher will listen to the recordings then transcribe the recordings in your own words for data analysis. You will have an opportunity to read the transcription of the interview for accuracy.
The researcher will only use the recordings of you for the purposes you read about in the informed consent form. The researcher will not use the recordings for any other reasons without your permission unless you sign another consent form. The recordings will be kept for seven years and they will be kept confidential. The recordings will be destroyed after seven years.
Any information that is collected about you during the study will be kept confidential. If the results of the study are published, your name will not be used and no information that identifies you will be released. If you are willing to participate in this study, please contact the researcher at
Gbonner@capellauniversity.edu or 914-646-5787
Thank you, your input is important
Gloria