Ms Sylvia Chambers:

Very much so. Like I said, we do a safety pause as part of each shift. We all go into work, we can see the screen and how many people are in the department and someone will always make a comment, "Tonight is going to be a really rough night, we are going to have loads of aggression tonight", because there is already a seven-hour or eight-hour wait and by 4 a.m. it will be up to 12 hours. That is especially the case for triage nurses. The triage nurse is the first person the parent and child see. They are out in the middle of the department. If there is a knock on the door, it is the triage nurse who opens the door. They receive the majority of that aggression. People are burnt out and stressed. They take it home. They re-evaluate and they think, "Did I say something? Did I say the wrong thing? Did I say the right thing?" People take that home with them. If I am verbally abused, I have to compose yourself and go on to the next person. I have to go on to the next child; I have to compose yourself. Sometimes I am fighting back tears because the comments are so personal. They can be very personal, about your appearance. I always get a comment on my big bun and my accent. It is personal and it is hard to separate yourself. When I am in the middle of it and it is 4 a.m., I am tired. I have been busy, doing the work of three nurses and running the emergency department. It is hard not to take it personally. The level of aggression would be one of the main reasons I would be looking to leave nursing.