"Rising trend of violence against health care workers in the world"

  "Rising trend of violence against health care workers in the world"

Violence against health care workers is a global problem. A recently conducted study in Canada shows that the percentage of emergency service employees being susceptible to violence at any time is 60%; 76% of Employees are prone to verbal violence, and patients recognize 86% to Physical threat, and 74% of them have less job complacency.

   China 

The number of violent attacks on doctors and paramedical staff in china increased from 10,000 in 2005 to more than 17,000 in 2010, as claimed by a report. A study by Yu et al. from China has the rationale that the violence is due to poor quality of service, increased level of consciousness in patients about their rights, and their preparedness to knock the door of the court to seek justice.

Citation: Gurmeet Singh Sarla., et al. ""Violence against Doctors: A Rising Trend."" EC Emergency Medicine 3.10 (2019):

                 

 Iran

According to a study conducted on emergency departments in Iran, 71% of employees were exposed to verbal violence, and 38% were exposed to physical violence over the last year. Also, 4% of violent Incidents resulted in life-threatening injuries. However, as claimed by another study conducted on emergency staff comprises nurses in Iran, 91.6% of the participants were exposed to verbal violence, and 19.7% were exposed to physical violence last year.

  Israel

On the report of a study conducted in Israel, 58% of doctors have experienced verbal violence, and 9.5% were exposed to physical violence in the year preceding the survey. In 2013, some 700 physical attacks and 2,700 verbal assaults took place in Israeli hospitals. These strikes were carried out by hospital patients or their family members and resulted in arrests and criminal proceedings. The percentage of violent incidents was three to four thousand per year. threats are usually made on physicians, nurses, and paramedical staff 

  Italy 

 

Three questionnaire-based cross-sectional surveys were conducted in Italy, and The response rate was 75 % in 2005, 71 % in 2007, and 94 % in 2009. One out of three workers reported physical aggression, and one out of three reported exposure to non-physical violence in the workplace. The most prominent categories were psychiatric and emergency department services. Workers exposed to non-physical violence were subjects to organizational injustice and high psychological disorders.

https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-12-108 

Denizil

According to a study conducted in Denizil in 2003, the percentage of participants exposed to violence was 88.6%, and 49.4% witnessed physical violence. As claimed by the participants, the most common cause of the violence was the use of alcohol and other substance abuse, and the second reason behind this is the long waiting period reported by the participants. Furthermore, 36.1% of the participants said that they had suffered physiological problems after that incident.

 India

The current analysis report of data collection in India showed that violent incidents had increased dramatically after 2013. And the most probable reason is overworking young junior doctors or paramedical staff with 36 hours of continuous duty that leads to increased stress and irritation. Even the shortage of over the counter medication in the pharmacy of government hospitals forces doctors to ask the patient to buy them from outside that leads to increased intuition among caregivers. There is a noticeable increase in the number of cases in Delhi and Maharashtra. According to a study conducted in Delhi'sDelhi's tertiary setups, 40%-47% of doctors have experienced violence in the last 12 months. Another survey from Maharashtra claimed a 63.41% prevalence of violent behaviors at the workplace. Physical and verbal abuse is most commonly reported worldwide among young doctors.

Citation: Gurmeet Singh Sarla., et al. "Violence against Doctors: A Rising Trend." EC Emergency Medicine and Critical Care 3.10 (2019):

639-643.

In the opinion of the report of a retrospective study conducted in India from 2006 to 2017, an increasing trend of violent behavior is noticed in Delhi and Maharashtra. They are considered as a hub of aggression in young doctors and paramedical staff, as claimed by the report of 100 incidents.

 United states

The violence set in the west is different from that in our subcontinent; most of the violent behavior is seen during night house calls, psychiatric wards, ICUs, and pediatric wards. In European countries, the cost of health is carried by the government, so financial problems might not be a causal factor. As a comparison, only 33% of the health care expenditure is owned by the Indian government, and insurance penetration is also low, so health care expenditures often pushed Indian people into debt of financial instability that is the leading cause of aggression.

 Saudia Arabia

According to a study conducted on 352 healthcare workers in the ministry of health facilities from 1st October to 31st December 2018 in Arar city of Saudia Arabia, 171 reported exposures to work during duty hours. The most common reported violence was the verbal one, which constitutes about 43%. The unrealized demand for the patients and deficient staff members were the leading cause of aggression. Kumar et al. found that long waiting periods (73.5%) and delay in medical care provision (45.7%) were the most common causes of the violence.

In the family medicine Center of Riyadh, it was reported that 48% of the health care workers who exposed to violence did nothing. In Saudi Arabia, 65% of the healthcare workers were victims of violence, and most frequent were the verbal abuse. The aggressors can be patient itself, patents, relatives, and co-workers. In another study, the main contributing factors reported for violence are shortage of staffing, misunderstandings, long waiting hours of service, and lack of communication. In the emergency department, people come in panic and with life-threatening health conditions that make them behave aggressively and rudely, so the emergency department is recognized as the most vulnerable place for violence. A study conducted in Ethiopia founds that professionals dealing with the emergency are four times more prone to violence than staff working in OPDs. In an Ethiopian study, it was demonstrated that HCWs with less than six years of experience were threefold more likely to have experienced violence than their seniors with more than 16 years of experience. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/6380281

 Pakistan

Currently, the Pakistani population is living in a time of tumult due to hideous economic instability. Unemployment, poverty, and political agitation have created hunger among common men, leading to a higher possibility of crime and violence in the country. Medical employees are extremely targeted by the destruction of patients, especially in the government hospitals.77% of physicians in Pakistan are facing both verbal and physical abuse, according to a report of the study recently conducted. According to WHO, 34 million children are supposed to vaccinate on national immunization day. Still, some workers faced security risks in day work while some workers boycotted the national immunization day in Pakistan was postponed in 70 districts across the country. And 47,099 children were not immunized because of refusing the vaccine.

http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2009/9789241598507_eng.pdf

A recent study conducted in Karachi that covers four significant hospitals claims that 72.5% of healthcare workers are exposed to verbal and physical violence in the last 12 months. Devoid of these, 30% reported the physical attack, and 64% of them also said that no action had been taken against attackers. The purpose of this study is to recommend that healthcare professionals should know the type and possibilities of a violent attack in their area of practice.

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