The Exploding Spark: Workplace Violence in an Infectious Disease Hospital—A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Objectives. Workplace violence (WV) is an important occupational hazard for healthcare workers (HCWs). Methods. A longitudinal study was carried out on HCWs from an infectious disease hospital. Work-related stress, anxiety, and depression were measured at baseline in 2003, and they were reassessed in 2005, along with the assaults that occurred in the previous year. Results. One-year prevalences of 6.2% and 13.9% were reported for physical and verbal aggressions, respectively. Perpetrators were mainly patients. The professional groups most frequently attacked were physicians, followed by nurses. Workers with job strain at baseline had a significant risk of being subject to aggression (OR 7.7; CI 95%, 3.3–17.9) in the following year. The relationship between job strain and subsequent WV remained significant even after correction for anxiety, depression, and other confounders. Conversely, experiencing WV was associated with a high risk of job strain and effort-reward imbalance in the following year. The final levels of anxiety and depression were predicted using regression models that included physical aggression among predictive variables. Conclusions. WV is the spark that sets off a problematic work situation. Effective prevention of WV can only be achieved within the framework of an overall improvement in the quality of work.

Impact of hospital Type II violent events: Use of psychotropic drugs and mental health services

“…Reports from several largely cross-sectional studies have documented associations between work-related violence and a number of outcomes including psychological stress, depression, anxiety, fatigue, job dissatisfaction, and work absence [Rogers and Kelloway, 1997;Menckel and Viitasara, 2002;Collins and Long, 2003;Hogh et al, 2003;Findorff et al, 2004;Gerberich et al, 2004;Magnavita, 2013]. These reports were not limited to Type II violence among health care workers, but they demonstrate global relevance to the work we report here on effects of work-related violence.…”

Violence against healthcare workers and other serious responses to medical disputes in China: surveys of patients at 12 public hospitals

“…Studying violence against healthcare workers is critical because this violence could have many detrimental effects, which could further harm the patient-provider relationship and generate a higher likelihood of future violence or extreme behaviors. Violence against medical personnel can increase the psychological stress of healthcare workers [35,36], and drive individuals away from the medical profession [33], further reducing the healthcare workforce and making it harder to meet patients' demands. With one-fifth of the world's population (1.4 billion) residing in China [37], the available workforce in the healthcare sector is far lower when compared to other countries.…”

“…The active participation of all aspects of society could reduce the incidence of extreme reactions towards medical disputes and prevent them from developing into Yi Nao. Aggression and violence against healthcare workers are prevalent in other countries without Yi Nao as well [4,44], and as such, stakeholders in China may be able to learn from other examples of how to address this issue with a systematic reform in the healthcare framework [35,36]. If the tense relationship between healthcare providers and patients can be improved, psychological pressures on healthcare workers may be alleviated, and China will have a much more sustainable healthcare workforce, which is critical to sustainably improve healthcare service delivery.…”

Violência no trabalho em saúde: a experiência de servidores estaduais da saúde no Estado da Bahia, Brasil

“…A violência foi mais prevalente entre as pessoas na faixa etária de 25 a 39 anos, resultado também encontrado por outros autores 12,25,26 . Geralmente com menor tempo de serviço, é provável que essas pessoas ainda não detenham a experiência necessária para lidar com as situações de conflito, o que pode acarretar problemas de serviço.…”