“The tragedy that affected our colleague Carène Mezino, murdered while practicing her profession, shows how much our profession is exposed to aggression and brutality of all kinds,” said Patrick Chamboredon, president of the National Order of Nurses, in a press release on Thursday.
The Order today reveals the results of a consultation carried out with 31,281 nurses from all over the country, which shows that two thirds of them have already been victims of violence in their professional practice, while 73% have witnessed it.
Insults, blows, threats…
Alarming figures. For 40% of them, this is a situation that occurs “several times a year” and 15% “every week or almost”. Others, 4% of the nurses surveyed, say they experience this almost every day.
Violence is of all kinds. Three out of four nurses were victims or witnesses of insults, almost half of physical threats or denigrations. More than a third of them (37%) mentioned beatings and 16% death threats. In around 5% of cases, the attacker used a weapon.
Most of the perpetrators of this violence are the patients (66%) but it can also come from relatives of the latter (43%).
Addressing the “structural causes” of violence
This consultation carried out by the National Order of Nurses shows that the main causes invoked are complaints related to care (48%), cognitive disorders (42%), the state of intoxication or consumption of narcotic drugs (23%) or time waiting time considered too long (28%).
Given this finding, the Order asks the public powers “to address the structural causes of violence, which cannot be reduced solely to the responsibility of its perpetrators: lack of personnel, pressure on caregivers, disorganization that generates tension and excessive work ”.
In his proposals made public on the sidelines of a Health Ministry meeting on carer safety, he also calls for a strengthened sanctions regime as well as massive investment in the psychiatry sector.
internal violence
In addition, nurses also testify, for a third of them, having been victims or witnesses of violence exerted by another caregiver or member of the structure. In fact, they also testify to a difficult climate inside the establishments.
Thus, 72% have already experienced forms of violence by the institutions for which they work or on which they depend, while 25% say they have been the victim of professional harassment.
The National Order of Nurses wants to encourage those affected to “declare the violence they suffer” since 38% of those surveyed confess that they did not take any action after the violence because they believed that they would not succeed (43%) or that it would be useless (34%), or would not be supported (34%).
26% plan to leave the profession
As a result of all this, more than half of nurses do not feel safe in their workplace, be it in hospitals, at home, or in residences or clinics.
“This violence can only undermine the attractiveness of the profession and the loyalty of carers, while many nurses wonder about their future in the profession,” laments the National Order of Nurses in a press release.
In fact, 97% of those surveyed believe that their working conditions are becoming more difficult and one in four plans to leave the profession within twelve months.
Source: BFM TV
