The Star reports that the University of Johannesburg (UJ) indicated on Monday that research had shown that psychiatric health professionals were at high risk of exposure to violence and aggression.
"Psychiatric nurses run a high risk of being exposed to aggression. They experience aggression from patients as well as fellow colleagues. Aggression in the work environment has an overt negative psychological effect on the nurse," said Professor Marie Poggenpoel. She added that health professionals often felt uncertain about how to deal with violence and aggression. "Standing at the interface between medicine, psychiatry and law, the best actions may not be clear, and guidelines neither consistently applicable nor explicit," Poggenpoel explained. A new study undertaken by researchers from the Department of Nursing Sciences within the Faculty of Health Sciences at UJ, found that in a working environment with dysfunctional nurse-to-nurse relationships, stress and aggression in the work environment influenced factors such as low productivity owing to conflicts, recruitment and retention challenges, burnout, absenteeism, litigation and rapid staff turnover. The population for this research consisted of psychiatric nursing staff registered with the SA Nursing Council who were employed in an academic psychiatric hospital in Johannesburg.
- Read the full original of Lindi Masinga’s report on the above at The Star
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