Abstract
Aim: The purpose of this study is to reveal the frequency of exposure to violence of the health personnel working in a university hospital in Konya, the type of violence, the characteristics of the practitioners of the violence, the reactions given when exposed, and the opinions of the health personnel on the subject.
Material and Method: The study was carried out with 60 healthcare professionals (34 physicians, 18 nurses, 8 other health personnel) who volunteered at Konya Necmettin Erbakan University Meram Medical Faculty.Our research was conducted between January-February 2019 as a cross-sectional and descriptive study. A questionnaire form consisting of 25 questions about socio-demographic characteristics and violence against the health worker based on the information in the literature was used. The data obtained from the survey questions were analyzed using SPSS 20.0 package program. Quantitative variables such as age, how many years of work are presented as mean ± standard deviation. Demographic variables such as gender, profession are presented in frequency and percentage. Whether there is a relationship between exposure to violence and gender was analyzed by Mann Whitney-U test.
Results: 60 health professionals participated in the study, 40 (66.7%) of the participants were women and 20 (33.3%) were men. The average age is 36.3 ±6.7. 83.3% of healthcare workers stated that they were exposed to violence. 80.0% of those exposed to violence were exposed only to verbal violence, 2.0% to only physical violence, and 18.0% to both verbal and physical violence. When examined by profession, 29 (87.8%) of the 33 doctors participating in the study, 16 of the 18 nurses (88.9%) and 5 (55.6%) of the other 9 health personnel were exposed to violence. 85% of the female participants and 80% of the male participants stated that they were exposed to violence at least once during their professional life. An important relationship was found between exposure to violence and gender (p <0.05).
Conclusion: Violent acts that tend to become widespread in the society affect healthcare institutions and employees seriously and cause burnout and inefficiency of employees. This will cause not only employees, but also the quality of health institutions and financial losses. For this reason, effective measures should be taken to prevent violence against employees working in health institutions and necessary legal arrangements should be made.