The impact of workplace violence on turnover intention of emergency nurses: A systematic review.

Abstract

Background: Emergency nurses face an increased risk of experiencing workplace violence, which is well documented in the literature and directly impacts their likelihood of resigning. An increase in nursing turnover has the potential to lead to result in inadequate staffing, jeopardise the quality of patient care, and exacerbate overcrowding and wait times. The research question was, “Does workplace violence influence turnover intention in emergency nurses who have experienced violence in their workplace”?

Methods: The search strategy for the review complied with the PEO (Population, Exposure, and Outcome) framework and was reported using the PRISMA flowchart. Electronic databases MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and Google Scholar were systematically searched for literature studies published between 1995 and 2023. A predefined set of inclusion and exclusion criteria was used. Inclusion criteria included the population of interest (emergency nurses); exposure (workplace violence); outcome (turnover intention) and full-text articles available in English.

Results: A total of 9 articles, comprising cross-sectional quantitative studies, met the inclusion criteria and identified that the emergency nurses who experienced workplace violence considered quitting their job or even leaving the profession, and they had low job satisfaction. The negative impact of violence on their well-being leads to emotions such as sadness and anger, feelings of helplessness and burnout, and physical symptoms like fatigue and exhaustion, which lead to low job satisfaction and the intention to resign from their positions.

Conclusion: Emergency nurses who have encountered workplace violence have expressed intentions of resigning from their position or even exiting the profession, indicating a low level of job satisfaction. The deleterious effects of violent encounters have resulted in adverse emotional reactions such as sadness and anger, as well as feelings of helplessness and burnout, and physical manifestations including fatigue and exhaustion. Further qualitative studies can explore more of the phenomenon.