Can a user-friendly system improve reporting of workplace violence towards emergency nurses? Findings of a multicenter study

Background: Nurses, particularly emergency nurses, are among the health workers most exposed to workplace violence (WPV). Despite WPV recording systems are becoming more common, the under-reporting is still widespread. Studies suggest that the use of simple and easy registration systems could facilitate the reporting of violent events. Aim: To verify if a friendly reporting system based on a Mobile-app can facilitate the WPV reporting. Methods: The University of Florence has developed an application for Android and iOs to report incidents of violence towards emergency nurses. Started from 5 February 2018 and ended on 17 March 2019 in 20 Italian emergency departments, our 6-month study involved the participation of 386 nurses enabled to use this mobile app. Results: 189 participants answered the questionnaire at the beginning (time T0) and at the end (time T1) of the trial period. The questionnaire item about the frequency of reporting of violent events in the last 6 months was scored: 1 for "Yes, all", 2 for "Yes, some", 3 for "No, only informally", and 4 for "No, not at all". The answers obtained the following arithmetic mean values (M), standard deviation (SD) at time T0 and T1, respectively M = 2.65, SD = 0.972, and M = 2.26, SD = 0.864. The result of the Paired Samples t-Test returned a t=3.614, df= 99 CONCLUSIONS: This result indicates a statistically significant difference in the change in the propensity to report, even if for small values. Nursing implications: The technology cannot solve the problem of underreporting alone. To solve this problem it is necessary to act on several front.