There are 5,000 cases of violence in wards a year but over 100,000 are not reported , an underground world that should not leave one indifferent . This is the number of attacks on healthcare workers throughout Italy, which sees a sad record among women (75% of cases) . A fact that does not spare Sassari where in the last month alone there have been several attacks between rooms and wards of the city hospital.
«Struggling, verbal violence, insults and threats have sadly become part of a complex everyday life - comments Gianluca Chelo , president of Opi, Order of Nursing Professions of Sassari -. We want to keep the spotlight on our category, the most affected by attacks during the course of work".
Organizational models to be rethought, overcrowding in emergency rooms, the need for more structured local services, as Fnopi (National Federation of Nursing Professions) points out, are among the deepest causes of disproportionate emotional reactions that have consequences that cannot be resolved only with bandages and plasters but which have negative and prolonged relapses, with a higher risk of panic attacks and burnout and a widespread fear in the relationship with patients and relatives. The data confirms: 10 percent of the people involved have permanent physical and psychological damage .
"There is a need for a new common education - continues Chelo - to be distributed equally to most of the users who often see the nurse as a front office, and therefore as a sort of punching bag in which to unload anxiety and frustration due to disservices or medical conditions of the user or their loved ones».
The president of Opi asks the institutions to take charge of the problem and support the order and its members in this sad reality .
In the second half of 2023, OPI Sassari is working to create training courses dedicated to the relationship with patients and relatives, also with a view to managing, preventing and promptly recognizing situations most at risk.
