Violence and abuse against nurses in Saudi Arabia: A narrative review

Abstract

Aim: To explore recent workplace violence literature against nurses in Saudi Arabia in terms of prevalence, contributing factors and recommendations for prevention. Background: Workplace violence in healthcare settings is a growing concern and efforts to provide nurses with optimum protection against workplace violence are challenged by multifaceted contributing factors. Method: A systematic search strategy was employed to search workplace violence studies in the Saudi context in PubMed, ProQuest and Google Scholar. A narrative analysis was performed on peer-reviewed articles published in English between 2011 and 2021. Findings: Issues related to the prevalence of nursing workplace violence before and after the Saudi government's healthcare workers protection act, measurement and monitoring issues, contributing factors and interventions for mitigating workplace violence are explored. Conclusion: There was inflation of quantitative descriptions of workplace violence on the account of qualitative approaches to understand the phenomenon. Workplace violence has decreased since the introduction of the Saudi government's legislative act in 2018. Overcrowding, miscommunication, and unmet patient needs were the factors most frequently contributing to workplace violence. Implications for nursing management: Healthcare organizations should enhance workplace violence reporting systems and provide interpreters to support international nurses' communication with Saudi patients and families. Nurses need to be trained in workplace violence-related policies and procedures.