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sometiimg to do with me not havmg good communication skills. By die
tune I leave theu office (managers) I feel like a first year sttident who
knows nothuig. They have a way of makmg you feel mcompetent.
When nursmg administtators condone the nurses' behaviour, the nurse has a positive
image of his/her abilities.
Illustration 3: Participant 19
Roy describes one incident in which he intervened to prevent a supervisor from being
physically assaulted. He stated:
I've spoken to the supervisor who was involved and everytime I have
spoken to her she's said that she is glad that I did do what I did because she
feh that he (patient's relative) was going to physically attack her. Her
attitude really helped me. This really boosted my confidence and it was
ttansferred into how I went about my work. I was valued, even though I
was involved in an aggressive situation with a patient's relative. It was
really reassuring, as otherwise I might have had some doubts about my
ability to do my job.
Participants often referred to their reporting behaviours when discussing their feelings
about competence. For example, a major factor in non-reporting is not wanting to be
seen as incompetent.
Illustration 4: Participant 2
Eve explained a situation in which a patient hit her. She stated:
1 was reluctant to be seen as having done something wrong in that situation.
Maybe I had done something wrong. I'm always scared that I will be caught
in a situation that will result in some serious injury to other staffer myself I
might say the wrong thing and trigger an aggressive situation, which will
get out of conttol. For me, it depends on die people I am workmg witii. If I
had a good rapport with supervisors, I would be more Idcely to report it or at
least talk about it. But I didn't tinst tiiem. I feh that diey would judge me in
a negative way. It is very important to me to be regarded as a highly skilled
nurse. That is why I completed all tiiose courses, I couldn't bear it if they
thought I was incompetent.
Anotiier factor for not reporting the aggressive incident is the nurse's perception of
the patient's intent to do harm. Feeluigs about patients intentions evoke mixed
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