Prevalence of Workplace Bullying Among Healthcare Professionals in Tertiary Care Hospitals in Pakistan

Abstract

Workplace bullying (WPB) in the healthcare system (HCS), whether perpetrated by healthcare professionals (HCPs) or patients, is a serious problem. The goal of this research study was to find out how common WPB is among HCPs. We conducted a questionnaire-based cross-sectional study in the three public tertiary care hospitals of Karachi, Pakistan from May to October 2020. A validated Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised (NAQ-R) was used to measure WPB prevalence. The final sample size was 449, out of which 72.4% were females and 27.6% were males. The majority of respondents were house officers or 1st-year trainees who had completed their MBBS ( n = 252, 56.1%). Residents ( n = 197, 43.9%) who were pursuing specialty training made up the remainder of the respondents. As per NAQ-R cut-offs, the prevalence of bullied, being bullied, and not bullied was 41, 29, and 30%, respectively. WPB prevalence was higher in males (53%) than females (38%), whereas it occurred more often in residents (48%) than house officers (36%). We found similar findings while using the self-reported definition for WPB. Based on our findings, we conclude that WPB is pervasive among HCPs, particularly for males and residents in tertiary care hospitals in Pakistan.

Role of workplace bullying and workplace incivility for employee performance: Mediated-moderated mechanism

“…Many incidents of workplace bullying are reported in the healthcare sector, about 20% rise in workplace bullying is observed in USA hospitals during last few years [ 6 ]. A recent study conducted in the hospital of Karachi have shown prevalence of workplace bullying in health care sector and results have shown that 53% males and 38% of females are victims of bullying [ 7 ]. These figures shows that the situation is becoming alarming therefore there is an urgent need to address this issue.…”

Bullying among nursing professionals in Brazil: validity and reliability of the Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised

“…O NAQ-R tem sido amplamente utilizado em pesquisas internacionais para avaliar o bullying entre trabalhadores, especialmente profissionais da saúde, que são reconhecidos como alvo de bullying em vários países 12,18,19 . No Brasil, há uma lacuna de estudos com o uso de medidas específicas para avaliação do bullying em profissionais de enfermagem.…”