THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF WORKPLACE VIOLENCE AMONG EMERGENCY NURSES

Introduction: Workplace violence remains a significant threat to the United States health care workforce. With increas-ingly aggressive patients, emergency nurses reported that the increased prevalence of workplace violence impacted their pro-fessional and personal lives. Methods: This study employed a qualitative, descriptive phenomenological approach with purposive sampling. Partici-pants were asked to describe their lived experience with work-place violence while working as emergency nurses and how this affected them personally and professionally.Results: Eleven experienced emergency registered nurses from 3 mid-Atlantic hospitals participated in the study. After reviewing, clustering, and validating significant statements, 4 major themes were identified: walking wounded to wounded healer, unexpected shock, betrayal, and resilient but changed.Discussion: Our findings were consistent with other studies exploring the effects of workplace violence in emergency de-partments. We validated that trauma has long-lasting effects. Organizations should ensure that programs and processes are in place to support the nurse or health care worker when work-place violence events occur.