A new study conducted at the Lyell McEwin Hospital found nurses believe they must accept violence as part of their job.

According to Adelaide Now, nurses do not always report incidence of violence because they feel that nothing will be done, or they would be victimised by managers. In addition, nurses feel they are untrained to deal with violence.

University of Adelaide masters student and clinical nurse, April Stanley-Banks did the study after she herself was exposed to violence in the LMH emergency department.

“Although they had a zero-tolerance policy towards violence in place at the department, it was something that I could see wasn’t addressing the situation enough to prevent it.”

Ms Banks said she was threatened, both verbally and physically. Her jaw was once injured after a patient hit her.

In her study, she also found nurses had felt betrayed by hospital management.

“There are many reasons that nurses don’t report and they extend from a belief of ‘what is the use’ because nothing is going to be done or being victimised if they do report it,” she said.

According to the study, “all (nurses) held an unprecedented belief that violence in the ED was ignored by management and felt insulted and unsupported by unevaluated efforts made to address it despite its escalation.”

“All nurses agreed that they felt they should shut up and put up with violent patients and take personal responsibility for safety.”

Adelaide Now further reported that Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation state secretary Elizabeth Dabars said nurses must feel they are supported when making a violence incident report.