Citation

Vento S, Cainelli F, Vallone A. Front. Public Health 2020; 8: e570459.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Frontiers Editorial Office)

DOI

10.3389/fpubh.2020.570459

PMID

33072706 PMCID

Abstract

Verbal and physical violence against healthcare workers (HCWs) have reached considerable levels worldwide, and the World Medical Association has most recently defined violence against health personnel "an international emergency that undermines the very foundations of health systems and impacts critically on patient's health" (1). Two systematic reviews and meta-analyses published at the end of 2019 found a high prevalence of workplace violence by patients and visitors against nurses and physicians (2), and show that occupational violence against HCWs in dental healthcare centers is not uncommon (3).

Recent Studies

In the first study (2), the authors systematically searched PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science from their inception to October 2018, and included 253 eligible studies (with a total of 331,544 participants). 61.9% of the participants reported exposure to any form of workplace violence, 42.5% reported exposure to non-physical violence, and 24.4% experienced physical violence in the past year. Verbal abuse (57.6%) was the most common form of non-physical violence, followed by threats (33.2%) and sexual harassment (12.4%). The prevalence of violence against HCWs was particularly high in Asian and North American countries, in Psychiatric and Emergency departments, and among nurses and physicians...

Language: en

Keywords

violence; workplace; doctor-patient relationship; healthcare worker (HCW); nurse-patient relationship