Date of Conferral
2023
Degree
Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)
School
Nursing
Advisor
Joan Hahn
Abstract
Emergency department (ED) nurses are exposed daily to workplace violence putting them at risk for injury from aggressive patients. A gap in practice was identified in an urban ED in a state in the Southeastern United States. ED nurses at this site do not have the knowledge to recognize and reduce aggressive patient behavior. The guiding practice-focused question addressed whether educating ED nursing staff on recognizing aggressive patient behavior would increase knowledge. To address the gap, an educational session was developed based on a comprehensive literature search, with the assistance of an expert panel and using the analyze, design, develop, implement, and evaluate (ADDIE) model. Eight ED nursing staff voluntarily participated in the project. A 10-question multiple choice pretest was administered, after which the ED nurses watched a 10-minute video. Participants then completed a 10-question multiple-choice posttest. The mean pretest score was 70% and the mean posttest score was 92.5%, a 32% increase in knowledge. A paired-sample t test indicated that scores were significantly higher on the posttest (M = 92.5) than for the pretest (M = 70.0), t(7) = -3.63, p = .008. This project has the potential to impact social change by helping ED nurses recognize early signs of patient aggression, which can help to decrease the number of incidences of violent attacks on nurses by patients.
Recommended Citation
Barnes, Kandee, "Increasing Knowledge of Emergency Department Nurses on Recognizing Aggressive Patient Behavior" (2023). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 13973.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/13973
