Prevalence, characteristics, and consequences of verbal and physical violence against healthcare staff in Chinese hospitals during 2010–2020

Abstract

Objectives This study investigated the characteristics of workplace violence (WPV) against Chinese healthcare staff and their casualties after severe physical violence (PV). Methods We scrutinized medical WPV incidents reported online and analyzed information on timing, location, violence, criminal incentives, and casualties following severe PV in China from 2010 to 2020. Results WPVs were mostly committed by young and middle‐aged male family members of the patients, especially in the emergency department (49.1%), and mostly associated with dissatisfaction with treatment effect (28.9%) in general. High medical costs (62.5%) were the leading cause of verbal violence (VV), whereas men predominantly committed PV (OR = 4.217, 95% CI: 1.439–12.359) owing to dissatisfaction with the healthcare staff's attitude ( P < 0.001). The victims were security personnel in most cases (81.1%). Nurses were generally more likely to experience PV ( P < 0.05), while doctors were more likely to experience lethal PV (OR = 4.732, 95% CI: 1.42–15.772), which mostly happened in oncology ( P < 0.05) and committed by visitors ( P < 0.001). Slight injuries and mortality were more likely to be inflicted by being rejected for unreasonable demands and disappointed with the treatment effect ( P < 0.05). Conclusions Medical WPV has numerous reasons, locations, and diverse victims and offenders. Some severe WPVs have serious consequences. Therefore, it is recommended for the concerned authorities to adopt effective steps for appropriate legislative, security, and conflict‐resolution measures.

Workplace violence against Chinese health professionals 2013–2021: A study of national criminal judgment documents

“…Routine inpatient service is often performed by postgraduate students, resident trainees and further educational doctors who have less experience in interacting with patients and fewer medical skills which may increase the possibility of involvement in medical disputes ( 30 ). Staff in the emergency, obstetrics and pediatrics departments were the most vulnerable to WPV, a finding consistent with those of other studies ( 23 , 31 ). However, a specific specialization was not reported for many cases meaning that this result should be interpreted with caution.…”

“…Perpetrators were often relatives of patients rather than patients themselves, a phenomenon that has been reported across different time periods, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and different cultures ( 2 , 33 ). Family members may suffer psychological stress and have to deal with complicated medical procedures, expenses and other issues, generating more quarrels ( 31 ). Perpetrators were found to be generally poorly educated and many were farmers or unemployed, consistent with previous studies ( 7 , 31 ).…”

“…Family members may suffer psychological stress and have to deal with complicated medical procedures, expenses and other issues, generating more quarrels ( 31 ). Perpetrators were found to be generally poorly educated and many were farmers or unemployed, consistent with previous studies ( 7 , 31 ). The level of medical knowledge of patients or their family members with the above characteristics is likely to be low and may be accompanied by unreasonable treatment expectations.…”

Violence Against Healthcare Professionals; Is It A New Pandemic?

“…This situation is in parallel with the data in crowded countries such as India and China. [9][10][11] If we look at the type of violence, we observed that verbal violence was significantly higher in our study in parallel with other studies. [6] When compared before and after the pandemic, it was observed that physical violence decreased significantly more.…”

Associations between work-related variables and workplace violence among Chinese medical staff: A comparison between physical and verbal violence

“…In recent years, studies have identified a higher prevalence of VV than PV among medical staff (32,33). Another study also supported that nurses were at higher risk of PV and doctors were at higher risk of VV (34). In Turkey, one study supported that average working time per week was associated with PV but not with VV among nurses (35).…”