HCA 250 Week 2 Stress Illness in the Workplace

HCA 250 Week 2 Stress Illness in the Workplace

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a division of the United States Department of Labor, describes violence in the workplace as “any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or other threatening disruptive behavior that occurs at the work site” (Occupational Safety and Health Administration.gov, n.d.). Violence in the workplace can range from a threat to verbal abuse or can be serious, resulting in a physical assault or even death; it affects employees, patients, customer, and clients.

It is reported that approximately 2 million American workers have experienced some type of violence in the workplace and many more cases are not reported. (OSHA, n.d.).  This issue has been become a highly discussed topic and has become a growing concern for health care industry leaders because all employees should be guaranteed a safe and healthy workplace environment. However, Antai-Otong (2001) reveals that 35% of all female deaths occur in the workplace and is the number one cause of mortality for females who are employed “and the second leading cause of death” for employed males according to a report released in 1995 by United States Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This paper will explore the physical, cognitive, emotional and behavioral reactions to stress, explore three professions at risk for workplace violence, discuss the purpose of using the Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CIS) Management Tool and the expected outcomes from the utilization of this tool and lastly, take a look at whether or not this tool is useful in decreasing stress and coping with workplace violence.

Perceptions to violence in the workplace and stressful situations will differ from person to person and is dependent on the individuals’ reactions to the event. Martin (1993) states that some physical reactions related to stress include: nausea, tremors or shakes, upset stomach, profuse sweating, chills, diarrhea, rapid heart rate, muscle aches, sleep disturbances, and dry mouth.

Martin (1993) goes on to state that cognitive reactions reported by employees as a result of stress take into account symptoms of confusion, decreased attention span, while other individuals experience calculation difficulties, memory problems, intrusive thoughts, distressful dreams and disruption in logical thinking. The emotional reactions listed by Martin (1993) incorporate feelings of grief, anger, anticipatory anxiety, denial, fear, survivor guilt, depression, hopelessness, of being overwhelmed, worried to the most severe reaction of wishing one’s own death because the burden of the stress is too heavy to bear.

Lastly, behavioral reactions reported by employees as a result of stress related incidents include withdrawal from people around them including loves ones and suspiciousness of others, increased or decreased appetite, increased smoking and/or alcohol intake, excessive or inappropriate sense of humor, behavior in which an individual is abnormally silent or presents with some form of unusual behavior.

The reactions described by Martin that can be potentially experienced by health care professionals, as a result of stress related incidents in the workplace have serious implications that will undoubtedly not only affect their ability to effectively deliver high, quality health care, but will also affect their ability to make clear, logical decisions because their judgment is temporarily impaired due to the crisis or event.

Hegney, Tuckett, Parker, & Eley (n.d.) state that nurses, especially those that work in psychiatric settings, are among the most common profession associated with violence in the workplace across the globe. This may be because the main source of workplace violence stems from encounters with patients and family members, as well as visitors and other nurses (Hegney et al., n.d.

). The website OSHA.gov (n.d.) reports that higher-risk workers may also include customer service agents that deal with the public, many times during the most stressful time of their lives. These health care professionals are many times ill-equipped to deal with the intense emotions displayed by the patient or family members when they present to the facility or organization. However, an article by Lundstrom, Graneheim, Eisemann, Richter, & Astrom (2005) argues that the professions with one of the highest exposure to workplace violence are those caregivers who are working with individuals with some form of a learning disability.

In fact, studies have shown that health care professionals emotional reactions in response to the difficult behavior of a patient they are treating, has been identified as a source of stress for these individuals (Lundstrom et al., 2005). Regardless of the health care profession one is employed research has prove