Affiliations: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA | Department of Community and Family Medicine, Division
of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Duke University Medical Center,
Durham, NC, USA
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Douglas J. Myers, ScD, MA, Assistant
Professor, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Community and
Family Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC 27705, USA. Tel.: +1 (919) 684
8404; E-mail: douglas.myers@duke.edu
Abstract: Hospital workers are known to be at risk of physical assault. The
objective of this study is to characterize injuries resulting from physical
assault among hospital nursing staff and to identify associated risk factors.
Workers' compensation reports linked to human resources data were used to
identify a cohort of aides and nurses employed in acute care units at a major
healthcare system from 1997 to 2004 and their reported physical assault events.
Poisson regression methods were used to estimate rates and rate ratios (RR) by
occupation, gender, race, age, tenure, and hospital unit. During the study
period 220 assaults were reported; the overall incidence rate was 1.65 (95%
CI: 1.45–1.89) per 100 full-time-equivalent employees (FTEs). Assault risk was
higher among those with shorter tenure (< 5 years vs. 15 or more)
(RR=1.35, 95% CI: 0.83–2.19) and younger workers (under age 30 vs. 50 or
older) (RR=1.30, 95% CI: 0.78–2.19), and lower among Black workers (vs.
non-Blacks) (RR=0.63, 95% CI: 0.45–0.90). Incidence rates were highest in
Psychiatry (12.65, 95% CI: 8.90–17.99), Neurology (4.43, 95% CI:
3.17–6.20) and Rehabilitation (3.63, 95% CI: 1.51–8.71) units.
Interventions targeting Psychiatry, Neurology, and Rehabilitation units, and
younger and newly hired staff are warranted. More detailed data are needed to
develop targeted interventions.
