Violence in healthcare is recognised as a significant workplace issue worldwide, with nurses recognised as the profession at greatest risk. The purpose of this study was to explore nurses’ and midwives’ experiences of violence in different clinical areas, work sectors and geographical regions. A cross-sectional design was employed to survey the membership of the New South Wales Nurses and Midwives’ Association about their experiences with violence from patients and/or their friends and relatives in their workplace. A total of 3416 participants returned a completed questionnaire and more than three-quarters of had experienced an episode of violence in the preceding six months. Participants working in the public health sector reported significantly more physically violent behaviours than their colleagues in the private sector. No statistically significant difference between the rates of violence (overall) was identified between different geographical areas. Violent behaviours were reported across all clinical settings, with emergency departments, mental health and drug and alcohol settings reporting the highest proportion of episodes. The results of this large study highlight the high levels of violence that nurses and midwives experience in the workplace across all sectors of employment, geographical regions and clinical settings.

To identify, critically appraise and synthesise evidence of the use and effectiveness of the arts for enhancing pre-registration/prelicensure healthcare students' empathy skills. A systematic review of mixed methods literature. A search of six electronic databases was conducted. Articles describing English language, peer-reviewed, primary research studies reporting empathy as an outcome of an arts-based intervention with pre-registration/prelicensure healthcare students (years 1-7) and published between 2000 and 2024 were eligible for inclusion. The JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis guided the review and a convergent segregated methodology was used to synthesise the results. Methodological rigour of included studies was examined using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Twenty studies from 12 countries described the use of the arts to develop empathy, with visual arts being the most common approach (n = 8). Other modalities included film, drama, digital stories, literature, creative writing, music, poetry, photography and dance. Studies included nursing, medicine and dental, pharmacy and/or health sciences students. Ten studies used quantitative methods, three qualitative, and seven used mixed methods designs. Of the studies that presented pre-post outcome measures, nine reported significant gains in empathy scores at post-test and two reported non-significant gains in empathy. In eight studies, empathy scores demonstrated a significant intervention effect with effect sizes ranging from moderate (d = 0.52) to large (d = 1.19). Findings from qualitative studies revealed that arts pedagogies support students to better understand the perspectives of people with a lived experience of suffering but that these approaches are sometimes perceived negatively by students. Arts interventions generally have a positive effect on healthcare students' empathy levels and enable a nuanced conceptual understanding of empathy. Arts modalities used as a stimulus for active learning and supported with facilitated group-based discussion and/or reflection, tend to be most effective.