To be or not to be a doctor, that is the question: a review of serious incidents of violence against doctors in China from 2003–2013

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

“…While patients bear the burden of paying higher prices for medical services that are exceeding the current inflation rate, healthcare workers, especially physicians, are getting salaries far less than their counterparts in other countries. While patients may have a negative experience within the healthcare system, providers are also facing double challenges of low pay and high workload [33]. Further, biased media reports and distorted social norms are negatively affecting healthcare workers, as news reports typically focus on negative events in which patients are characterized as victims from medical malpractice [8,34].…”

“…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.…”

“…That said, policies aimed at promoting the role of general practitioners in primary care have been suggested as a way to bring about positive change to the existing system through improved access to care [40]. Financial challenges within the healthcare system, such as physicians not receiving sufficient salary and patients paying too much for medical care, could also be contributing to the worsening patient-physician relationship and may ultimately lead to patients' extreme actions [6,33]. Further, current interventions are both limited in number and effectiveness.…”

Records of medical malpractice litigation: A potential indicator of healthcare quality in China

“…16 Over the same period, there appears to have been a deterioration in the general relationship between patients and providers and an increase in medical litigation and violence against health professionals. [17][18][19][20][21] There is a need to resolve such issues but data on health-care quality and useful indicators of such quality are rare in China. 22,23 Some hospitals are investing in systems based on electronic medical records but such systems are not well integrated and the recorded data are rarely shared between hospitals or assimilated at regional level.…”

Continuing violence against medical personnel in China: A flagrant violation of Chinese law

“…From 2003 to 2013, 101 incidents of violence against medical personnel occurred, including 23 incidents that resulted in the death of 24 doctors or nurses (7). According to the White Paper on the Practice of Medicine by Chinese Physicians by the Chinese Medical Association in 2014, nearly a quarter of Chinese doctors were victims of violence in the workplace in varied forms and 32.7% of doctors had an average workweek over 60 hours ( Figure 1) (8,9).…”