• To consider the use of body-worn cameras for nurses in EDs in response to increasing violent and aggressive incidents
• To read about one hospital’s experience of introducing body-worn cameras for ED nurses
• To recognise the importance of testing and evaluating the use of body-worn cameras before full implementation of such equipment
Nurses and other emergency department (ED) staff often experience verbal and physical abuse as part of their everyday work. Body-worn cameras are one tool that ED staff can use to try to reduce workplace violence and abuse and have been shown to be effective in other healthcare environments, such as mental health units. This article describes a pilot service evaluation which used a survey to assess the effectiveness of using body-worn cameras for staff in the author’s ED. Findings suggest that nurses believed the cameras provided support when they were confronted by abusive or aggressive patients or relatives and in some instances diffused potentially violent situations.
Emergency Nurse. doi: 10.7748/en.2024.e2188
Peer reviewThis article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software
Correspondence Conflict of interestNone declared
Spencer E (2024) Using body-worn cameras in emergency departments: a pilot project. Emergency Nurse. doi: 10.7748/en.2024.e2188
Published online: 11 January 2024
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