Background: Workplace violence is a global problem in the health sector especially in the hospitals affecting healthcare works’ job satisfaction and performance. Workplace violence is present in different forms associated with various factors and the nurses are the most affected. The aim of this study was to explore workplace violence experience among nurses working at a selected University Teaching Hospital in Rwanda.
Method: There search approach used was quantitative descriptive cross-sectional design. The stratified random sampling was used to recruit 195 participants among 379 nurses. The data was collected using a structured, validated, and self-administered questionnaire that was adapted from the International Labor Organization, International Council of Nurses, World Health Organization and Public Services International. Descriptive statistics were used for analyzing frequencies and percentages. Chi-square test was used for evaluating the association between variables.
Results: The findings revealed that (58.5%, n=114) of nurses have experienced some types of WPV in the twelve months preceding the study, among them (44.6%, n=108) of nurses were verbally abused. The nurses providing emergency care, the nurses working at the emergency department and nurses working with vulnerable patients like HIV/AIDS patients were associated with workplace violence Chi square(1, n=195), P=<0.001). The psychological problems has been found as the first consequences of workplace violence.
Conclusions: Based on the study findings, it was concluded that the hospital management needs to be aware of workplace violence, develop and implement appropriate policies and strategies. These strategies will strengthen nurses’ concentration towards their and will resulting in service delivery improvement.