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February 8, 2026Emergency Medicine Australasia0 citationsOpen Access

A Survey of Workplace Violence in a New Zealand Emergency Department—Is the Current Reporting System Working? A Short Report

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KCKatherine CorneyZNZoë NeilsonNBNikita Brazil

Key Points

  • The study aims to review incidents of workplace violence in the emergency department and assess the effectiveness of the current reporting system.
  • Conducted a prospective electronic survey for workplace violence incidents in the emergency department.
  • Gathered data from respondents regarding their experiences of workplace violence.
  • Analyzed the discrepancy between reported incidents and formal reports.
  • Ninety respondents reported experiencing workplace violence, significantly higher than the 45 formal reports submitted.
  • Most incidents were reported by nurses and were verbal attacks by patients.
  • Nearly 20% of staff considered leaving the emergency department following these incidents.

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objective The ED workforce experiences high levels of workplace violence (WPV), but data is often poorly captured. This study aimed to review WPV incidents and rates of formal reporting. Methods Prospective electronic QR survey of WPV incidents in ED. Results Ninety respondents reported WPV incidents in ED, compared to 45 formal reports. Most WPV cases reported by nurses were from patients and were verbal in nature. Concerningly, almost 1/5 were considering leaving the ED after the WPV incident. Conclusion WPV is a significant, ongoing, underreported issue in ED that harms staff well‐being and threatens the retention of the future workforce.

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Cite This Study

Corney et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/698828010fc35cd7a88471e3https://doi.org/10.1111/1742-6723.70223
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