The "World Health Organization (WHO) defines workplace violence as, Incidents where staff are abused, threatened, or assaulted in circumstances related to their work, including commuting to and from work, involving an explicit or implicit challenge to their safety, well-being, or health." (WV) is listed as one of the world's leading causes of workplace disability, and is widespread in health settings in Arab countries and Iraq as well. Nursing staff have the highest recorded incidence of interpersonal violence in Iraq, posing a major concern for healthcare professionals. Different researchers concentrate on prevalence rates of violence against nurses in hospitals, addressing forms of violence, position and background of violence in the workplace. Thus, some form of occupational violence has been encountered by most Iraqi nurses,that may contribute to harm and abuse and reduced job performance. Reports have described the impact of violence in the workplace on the employee satisfaction of nurses and patient safety, but few studies have been done about whether aggression in the workplace influences patient safety via employee satisfaction. Ultimately, abuse against nurses is perceived by the nursing community to be a dynamic and chronic workplace risk. In the health care sector, nurses are among the most abused staff. Nurses are too often subject to abuse, primarily from clients, relatives of patients, visitors and caregivers team. The purpose of this article is to review the violence against nurses and challenges work place.

Background: infectious disease can transmitted indirectly to the health care worker especially nursing staff through multiple or misuse of needles and sharp instruments. Aims of the study: the study aimed to assess the prevalence of sharps injuries and its protective measures for nursing staff at Kirkuk city hospitals. Methodology: A descriptive design was carried out at Kirkuk city hospitals for nursing staff from 1st of February, 2020, up to the 1st of September, 2020. A non-probability (convenience sampling) of (166) nurses both male and female from selected working site in the hospital were selected. The questionnaire was designed by the researcher to achieve the purpose of the study. The questionnaire was consisted of four parts: part Ι: the demographic data of the participants, part ΙΙ: the Equipment associated sharps injuries. Part ΙΙΙ: Factors associated with sharp injuries. And part ΙΙΙΙ: Availability of protective measures for sharp injuries. The data were collected through the use of self-administration technique. They were analyzed through the application of descriptive statistical analysis and inferential statistical data analysis. Results: The results indicated that the most equipment that cause sharp injuries were syringe needles (52%), and glasses such as ampoules (25%).