title: Mosaic of verbal abuse experienced by nurses in their everyday work.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To report observational data collected as part of a multi-phased study examining violence in the health sector. The findings presented detail the nature of verbal abuse experienced by nurses during their everyday interactions with patient, their families, or companions.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Nurses have unacceptably high levels of exposure to violence, which commonly includes verbal abuse. However, relatively little is known about the nature of verbal abuse against nurses.
  
  
  METHODS
  Observational design.
  
  
  METHODS
  During 2010, 1150 hours of observation resulted in data on 220 patients displaying cues for physical violence and 210 qualitative observational notes. These observational notes constitute the data for this paper and reveal the nature of verbal abuse experienced by nurses in their everyday work.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A mosaic of abuse was revealed through three major categories: a discourse of gendered verbal abuse that was largely sexual; insults, ridicule, and unreasonable demands; and hostility, threats, and menacing language.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  For the nurses observed in this study, everyday nursing practice occurred in a backdrop of verbal abuse and hostility, which had a strong theme of gendered and sexualized overtones. We recommend that interventions that target verbal abuse should address the gendered and sexualized nature of the abuse experienced by nurses.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health, University of Technology-Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. debra.jackson@uts.edu.au
authors.forename: Debra
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hutchinson
authors.forename: Lauretta
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Luck
authors.forename: Lesley
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wilkes
mesh_terms: D058445:Bullying; D003697:Delphi Technique; D006801:Humans; D009740:Nursing Staff; D014754:Violence
keywords: nurse-patient interactions; nurses; nursing; violence; workforce issues