title: The Impact of a Violent Physical Assault on a Registered Nurse: Her Healing Journey and Return to Work.
abstract: Healthcare practitioners are at an increased risk for workplace violence. What happens to a practitioner after a devastating physical assault from a patient in the workplace? This case report describes the impact of a violent assault on a registered nurse and her healing journey and return to the workplace. The Department of Veteran Affairs/Department of Defense "Clinical Practice Guidelines for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder" outline three categories of risk factors that are associated with the development of posttraumatic stress disorder: pretraumatic factors, peritraumatic or trauma-related factors, and posttraumatic factors. Each of these risk factors can contribute to the likelihood of an individual developing posttraumatic stress disorder after a traumatic incident and will be used to frame the discussion of this case. The registered nurse gave her full and informed consent for the author to tell her story.
authors.affiliation: Case Report Editor: Dr. Brian McKenna, School of Clinical Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, brian.mckenna@aut.ac.nz Author Affiliation: College of Nursing, University of Saskatchewan.
authors.forename: Holly
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Graham
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008605:Mental Health Services; D009104:Multiple Trauma / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000523:psychology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D064450:Workplace Violence / Q000523:psychology*