Violence and Its Factors Towards Health Care Workers

Abstract

Objective Worldwide work place violence is a very serious issue. Compared with other occupational groups health care workers (HCW) are at a higher risk of violence or aggression. The objective of this study was to identify the prevalence of violence and the demographic factors among HCWs.
Materials and Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted at District Head Quarter Hospital, Sheikhupura. Willing doctors and nurses were included in this survey. An English self-designed questionnaire was used for data collection. The quantitative variables like age were presented mean ± SD. Qualitative variables like gender and other demographic variables were presented as frequency and percentages. For qualitative portion, themes were identifies according to the response using NVIVO.
Results: Total number of participants included were 199 into this study. Mean age was found as 30.69 ± 8.02 years. Maximum of participants (61.3%) were female. Most common type was verbal aggression (75.8%). Most common place of violence was emergency room (86.2%) & morning time (50.9%). Male doctors frequently observed violence behavior than female, however difference was not significant. Also violence was significantly more commonly observed in surgery & medicine department also well as in youngster with less experience (P ˂ 0.05).
Conclusion: This study concluded that young health care workers face more violence. Behavior of this society may discourage the moral of young HCWs. Policies & education to prevent these events is need of time.

Keywords

• Doctors,Health care worker,Nurses,Work place violence

Sağlık Bakım Çalışanlarına Yönelik Şiddet ve Etkileri

Öz

Amaç: Dünya çapında işyeri şiddeti çok ciddi bir konudur. Diğer meslek gruplarıyla karşılaştırıldığında sağlık çalışanlarına yönelik şiddet veya saldırganlık riski daha yüksektir. Bu çalışmanın amacı, sağlık çalışanlarının şiddet prevalansını ve demografik faktörleri tespit etmektir.
Materyal ve Metot: Bu kesitsel çalışma Sheikhupura İlçesi Merkez Mahallesi Hastanesi'nde yapıldı. Gönüllü doktor ve hemşireler bu ankete dahil edildi. Veri toplama için İngilizce olarak tasarlanan bir anket kullanılmıştır. Yaş gibi nicel değişkenler ortalama ± SD olarak sunuldu. Cinsiyet ve diğer demografik değişkenler gibi nitel değişkenler sıklık ve yüzde olarak sunuldu. Niteliksel kısım için temalar, NVIVO kullanılarak verilen cevaplara göre tanımlandı.
Bulgular: Bu çalışmaya katılan toplam katılımcı sayısı 199 idi. Ortalama yaş 30,69 ± 8,02 yıl olarak bulundu. En fazla katılımcı (% 61,3) kadındı. En sık görülen tip sözel saldırganlık (% 75,8) idi. En sık görülen şiddet yeri acil servisteydi (% 86,2) ve sabah vakti (% 50,9) idi. Erkek doktorlar sık ​​sık kadınlara göre şiddet davranışları gözlemlemişler, fakat istatistiksel fark anlamlı bulunamamıştır. Şiddet, cerrahi ve tıp bölümünde de daha az deneyime sahip gençlerde olduğu gibi, daha da yaygın olarak gözlendi (P ˂ 0,05).
Sonuç: Bu çalışmada genç sağlık çalışanlarının daha fazla şiddete maruz kaldığı sonucuna varılmıştır. Toplumun bu davranışı, genç sağlık çalışanlarının ahlakını zedeleyebilir. Bu olayları önlemek için eğitim ve politikalara zaman ihtiyaç duyar.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Doktorlar,hemşireler,işyerinde şiddet,sağlık çalışanı

Kaynakça

1. 1.Zimmerman GM, Kushner M. Examining the Contemporaneous, Short-Term, and LongTerm Effects of Secondary Exposure to Violence on Adolescent Substance Use. J Youth Adolesc. 2017;46(9):1933-1952.
2. 2. Kumar NS, Munta K, Kumar JR, Rao SM, Dnyaneshwar M, Harde Y.A survey on workplace violence experienced by critical care physicians. Indian J Crit Care Med. 2019;23(7):295-301.
3. 3. Sun P, Zhang X, Sun Y, et al. Workplace violence against health care workers in North Chinese hospitals: a cross-sectional survey. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2017;14(1):96. doi: 10.3390/ijerph14010096
4. 4. Stathopoulou H. Violence and aggression towards health care professionals. Health Science Journal. 2007;1(2):1-7.
5. 5. d'Ettorre G, Pellicani V. Workplace violence toward mental healthcare workers employed in psychiatric wards. Safety and Health at Work. 2017;8(4):337-342.
6. 6. Kumar M, Verma M, Das T, Pardeshi G, Kishore J, Padmanandan A. A study of workplace violence experienced by doctors and associated risk factors in a tertiary care hospital of South Delhi, India. J Clin Diagn Res. 2016;10(11):LC06-LC10.
7. 7. Ferri P, Silvestri M, Artoni C, Di Lorenzo R. Workplace violence in different settings and among various health professionals in an Italian general hospital: a cross-sectional study. Psychology Research and Behavior Management. 2016;9:263-275.
8. 8. Nijman H, Palmstierna T, Almvik R, Stolker J. Fifteen years of research with the Staff Observation Aggression Scale: a review. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. 2005;111(1):12-21.

9. 9. Chopra P. Mental health and the workplace: issues for developing countries. Int J Ment Health Syst. 2009;3(1):4. doi:10.1186/1752- 4458-3-4
10. 10. Abdellah RF, Salama KM. Prevalence and risk factors of workplace violence against health care workers in emergency department in Ismailia, Egypt. Pan African Medical Journal. 2017;26(1):1-8.
11. 11. Ahmed F, Memon MK, Memon S. Violence against doctors, a serious concern for healthcare organizations to ponder about. Annals of Medicine and Surgery. 2018;25:3-5. doi: 10.1016/j.amsu.2017.11.003
12. 12. Chen W-C, Sun Y-H, Lan T-H, Chiu H-J. Incidence and risk factors of workplace violence on nursing staffs caring for chronic psychiatric patients in Taiwan. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2009;6(11):2812-2821.
13. 13. Phillips JP. Workplace violence against health care workers in the United States. New England Journal of Medicine. 2016;374 (17):1661-1669.
14. 14. Cheung T, Lee PH, Yip PS. Workplace violence toward physicians and nurses: prevalence and correlates in Macau. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2017;14(8):879. doi: 10.3390/ijerph14080879
15. 15. Koukia E, Mangoulia P, Gonis N, Katostaras T. Violence against health care staff by patient’s visitor in general hospital in Greece: Possible causes and economic crisis. Open J Nurs. 2013;3(08):21-27.
16. 16. Zakar R, Zakar MZ, Krämer A. Voices of strength and struggle: Women’s coping strategies against spousal violence in Pakistan. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 2012;27(16):3268-3298.
17. 17. Mayhew C, Chappell D. Workplace violence in the health sector–a case study in Australia. Safety. 2003;19(6):1-43.
18. 18. Imran N, Pervez MH, Farooq R, Asghar AR. Aggression and violence towards medical doctors and nurses in a public health care facility in Lahore, Pakistan: A preliminary investigation. Khyber Med Uni Med J. 2013;5(4):179-184.
19. 19. Gacki-Smith J, Juarez AM, Boyett L, Homeyer C, Robinson L, MacLean SL. Violence against nurses working in US emergency departments. Journal of Nursing Administration. 2009;39(7/8):340-349.
20. 20. Shafran-Tikva S, Chinitz D, Stern Z, FederBubis P. Violence against physicians and nurses in a hospital: How does it happen? A mixed-methods study. Isr J Health Policy Res. 2017;6(1):59. doi: 10.1186/s13584-017-0183- y
21. 21. Algwaiz WM, Alghanim SA. Violence exposure among health care professionals in Saudi public hospitals. A preliminary investigation. Saudi Medical Journal. 2012;33(1):76-82.