Workplace and occupational aggression in First Nations and Inuit health nursing stations in Manitoba region: incidence, types and patterns

Abstract

The existence of workplace violence in remote and isolated nursing station settings has been an area of limited knowledge to date. This descriptive study explored the phenomena of workplace and occupational aggression (WPOA), an operational definition of workplace violence created to capture all exposures to verbal and physical aggression in the 21 First Nations and Inuit Health (FNIH) managed Nursing Stations in Manitoba. Using the Manitoba Region Occurrence Reports from 2008, it was found that nurses in nursing stations experience a range of WPOA exposures with verbal incidents being more commonly reported than physical incidents. Quantitative findings related to patterns of reported WPOA with respect to timing, type, perpetrators and concurrent substance use. Themes related to the impact of WPOA on nursing staff and responses of managers to reported incidents were generated from the qualitative analysis. Recommendations for policy, administration, education and future research were generated.