Identifying aggression of hospitalized patients towards nurses by means of measuring tools

Aim. To identify and compare research results aimed at determining the incidence of aggression of hospitalized patients towards nurses using Violence and Aggression of Patients Scale (VAPS) and the Perceptions of Prevalence of Aggression Scale (POPAS) measuring tools.

Material and methods. The sample consisted of 1012 nurses from selected healthcare settings in the Czech Republic. Data was collected from June to November 2018.

Identification of the occurrence of aggression of hospitalized patients towards nurses was performed using two measuring tools: POPAS and VAPS. Both tools describe specific forms of aggressive behaviour.

Results. We identified a very high incidence of aggression of hospitalized patients towards nurses. As much as 97% of respondents encountered various manifestations and forms of aggression from patients, 61.96% of respondents encountered physical aggression (spitting, biting, scratching, pinching), and 76.4% experienced verbal aggression. A significant difference was identified between results obtained with POPAS and VAPS.

Conclusions. With the use of two reliable measuring tools, we identified different experiences with aggression of hospitalized patients towards nurses in the same set of respondents, which points to the issue of comparing results of the incidence patient aggression towards nurses identified by different measuring tools.