Risk Management and Healthcare Policy (Apr 2021)
Occupational Violence and Staff Safety in Health-Care: A Cross-Sectional Study in a Large Public Hospital
Abstract
Zainab R Al-Shaban,1 Sultan T Al-Otaibi,2 Hatem A Alqahtani3 1Primary Healthcare Centers, Department of Occupational Medicine, Ministry of Health, Qatif, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 2Department of Public Health, College of Public Health, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 3Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Sultan T Al-OtaibiImam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Po Box 1982, Dammam, 31441, Saudi ArabiaTel +966 13-8948964Fax +966 13-8645612Email [email protected]: Physical and psychological workplace violence in health-care settings has serious implications for the health of workers, as well as a negative effect on productivity and health-care quality.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from May to July 2018 among physicians and nurses using a convenience sample (n = 213) for the previous 12 months at a tertiary hospital in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. The participants completed a self-administered questionnaire that assessed their personal and professional characteristics, whether they had experienced physical violence (assault) or psychological violence as health-care practitioners, and whether they had reported the incidents.Results: Among the respondents, 57% had experienced psychological violence, 6% had experienced physical violence, and 37% had experienced both psychological and physical violence in the previous 12 months. Shiftwork and working in the inpatient department were associated with a significant increase in the risk of physical violence. However, these factors showed no difference with regard to psychological violence. Both physical and psychological violence had diverse causes, without any single predominant cause. Similarly, both forms of violence occurred in multiple departments. Many of the incidents were unreported (75% of incidents involving psychological violence and 39% involving physical violence).Conclusion: Physical and psychological violence against health-care workers (HCWs) in the hospital under study was found to be very common. The results of this study suggest the need to develop and evaluate a violence prevention program to achieve quality health-care services.Keywords: occupational, health-care, violence, large hospital
