Workplace violence against health care workers in Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Workers anywhere are exposed to assault at the workplace and the worst affected are service providers. Globally, the highest incidence occurs among health-care workers (HCWs) and it is a workplace hazard. Aim: This is a review article investigating the burden of violence against HCWs in Nigeria. Materials and Methods: To provide the evidence of violence against HCWs, a narrative review of pertinent papers on workplace violence (WPV) against HCWs in Nigeria was conducted using the databases PubMed, Ajol, and Google Scholar. We found that violence against HCWs is high in the health sector. It is further worsened by conflict situations and the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurses and physicians are the common victims. The most common perpetrators are companions of patients followed by the patients themselves. Worse still is that the victim/survivors may do little or nothing about it. Worse, there is no protocol in place to prevent recurrence, so victims/survivors may have little or no recourse. Conclusion: WPV occurs in health care. Therefore, there must be reporting systems in all Nigerian including protocols to prevent this menace.

Keywords

• health-care workers
• perpetrators
• violence
• workplace