The forum was organised by the United Nations Information Services in Geneva. Women are often considered legitimate targets of violence. Ninety-five per cent of nurses around the world are women and this attitude towards women is often reflected in interactions with the nursing profession, said Kingma. Health care workers, especially nursing personnel, are recognised as being at higher personal risk of abuse and violence in the workplace. General patient rooms have replaced psychiatric units at the second most frequent area for assaults.
Emergency rooms remain the most dangerous work areas for health care personnel.
Working in isolation, inadequate staff coverage and training and the necessity of dealing with people who have been drinking, taking drugs or who may be under stress or grief-struck are the main contributing factors in workplace violence for nurses, said Kingma. The consequences of nurse abuse can include deterioration of the quality of care provided, abandonment of the nursing profession thereby causing a reduction in health services available to the general population, and increasing health costs. A concerted effort to eliminate violence and its negative consequences is required. ICN is calling for the introduction and enforcement of a no tolerance campaign , concluded Kingma. Society has responded in various ways to incidents of violence and with varying degrees of success.