Affiliations: Office of Public Health, Veterans Health
Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC, USA | Office of Informatics and Analytics, Veterans Health
Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, San Francisco, CA, USA
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Charles E. Welch, III, PhD, VA
Central Office (10P3), 810 Vermont Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20420, USA. Tel.:
+1 202 461 1038; E-mail: charles.welch@va.gov
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: Ascertain whether Veterans Health Administration
administrative medical center complexity ratings could be used to help identify
potential sites for targeted nursing staff workplace violence intervention
activities. PARTICIPANTS: VHA field nursing staff, classified among the nurse,
practical nurse, and nursing assistant series, who administratively reported a
grand total of 9,964 occupational assault incidents that occurred between
October 1, 2003 and September 30, 2011. METHODS: Outcome measures were population-based standardized assault
incidence rates, as differentiated by fiscal year, medical facility complexity
level, gender, and nursing staff occupation. Subgroup measures included age,
highest educational attainment level, location of injury, body part most
affected, day of week, and time of day. RESULTS: Across eight fiscal years, standardized incidence rates for
reported assaults among females were 6.0 and 2.3 times higher for nursing
assistants and practical nurses, respectively, as compared with nurses; for
males, the corresponding rates for nursing assistants and practical nurses were
3.5 and 1.5 times higher, respectively. Across occupation and gender,
standardized incidence rates for assaults were consistently higher among
medium- and low-level facility complexity levels. Findings suggest that more
attention is needed for ascertaining the potential role and functioning of
facility-specific staff training for preventing assaultive behavior on VHA
nursing staff.
Keywords: Workplace violence, occupational injuries, medical facility complexity ratings, violence/prevention and control, violence/statistics and numeric data
