Testing the Feasibility of a Smartphone Application for Collecting Data on Occupational Violence Exposure Among Nurses and Midwives

The study tested the feasibility of using a mobile application to record violent incidents among healthcare workers. A prospective study involved 108 nurses and midwives who used the MetricWire application to report violent situations during their shifts over three weeks. A total of 111 incidents were recorded in 18.6% of 607 assessments, with 62% of participants reporting at least one incident. Most incidents were verbal in nature (69%) and perpetrated by patients (86%), with 59% involving witnessing violence against a colleague. Although 57% of incidents were reported to someone, only 6% reached the formal incident management system. Respondents found the application easy to use and acceptable. The study demonstrated that a mobile application effectively captures real-time data on occupational violence, including cases that conventional systems miss.