Workplace violence and its associated factors among health care workers of a tertiary hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal

Abstract

Workplace violence (WPV) is a globally prevailing public health concerns among healthcare workers. Workplace violence includes occupational abuse (physical, sexual, verbal and psychological), threats or harm among health workers, and workplace harassment. It is important to identify the prevalence of workplace violence at the workplace. Therefore, this study aimed to assess workplace violence and its associated factors among healthcare workers at a tertiary hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal. A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among 369 health care workers in a tertiary hospital in Kathmandu. A semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS v20. Descriptive statistics were used to assess workplace violence and other independent variables. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression model was used to examine the factors associated with workplace violence. The prevalence of verbal violence was highest among doctors (34.3%) and nurses (52.8%) followed by bullied/mobbed among doctors (11.9%) and nurses (17%) any time in the past. Experience of any type of workplace violence in the past among doctor was 45.5% and among nurses was 54% while 35.8% doctors and 46.8% nurses had experienced it in the past 12 months. Patients and relatives of patient were major perpetrator for physical and verbal violence while management and staff members were major perpetrators for bullying/mobbing. Participants marital status, work experience, posted department, nature of work shift, frequency of night shift and working hours per week showed statistically significant association with the experience of workplace violence within past 12 months (p<0.05) in binary logistic regression analysis. There is a crucial need to establish evidence-based actions to prevent violence in the workplace and promote a healthy workplace setting. Placing adequate staffs at emergency and medical departments and providing training to cope with the stressful emergency situations would help in minimizing workplace violence among health workers.

Workplace violence and its associated factors among nurses working in university teaching hospitals in Southern Ethiopia: a mixed approach

“…In this study, we found that nurses working in emergency departments had 4 times higher odds of experiencing workplace violence compared to those in outpatient departments. This finding is similar to that of a study conducted in Hawassa, Ethiopia (22), Eastern Ethiopia (11), Northwest Ethiopia (24), Rwanda (13), elsewhere in Iran (28), and in Kathmandu, Nepal (29). The possible reasons for the similarity could be due to the fact that emergency rooms are the more stressful and anxious areas for a client, the attendants, and the nurses, where unexpected events like deaths occurred and there was an absence of security.…”

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Violence against physicians working in public tertiary care hospital of Bangladesh: a facility-based cross-sectional study

“…This percentage aligns with previous studies conducted among healthcare professionals in Bangladesh, although it varies, with a lower prevalence of 43% reported by Shahjalal et al , 12 higher prevalence of 77.29% reported by Rony et al , 21 and compared with rates reported in studies conducted in Pakistan (53.4%), 22 India (63%) 23 and Nepal (45.5%). 24 …”

Triage practices for emergency care delivery: a qualitative study among febrile patients and healthcare workers in a tertiary care hospital in Nepal

“…In future, HCWs should explain the rationale for triage and prioritization which can mitigate potential resentments and the workplace violence that often originates from poor communication and understanding of the medical procedures by patients and their caretakers [ 38 , 39 ]. Almost 50% of HCWs working in a tertiary care hospital in Nepal have experienced workplace violence, the perpetrators being the patients and their caretakers [ 40 ].…”