Citation

Garcia-Zamora S, Pulido L, Miranda-Arboleda AF, Garcia DE, Perez G, Priotti M, Chango DX, Antoniolli M, Zaidel EJ, Lopez-Santi R, Vazquez G, Nuñez-Mendez R, Cabral LT, Sosa-Liprandi, Liblik K, Baranchuk A. Curr. Probl. Cardiol. 2022; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.cpcardiol.2022.101296

PMID

35779676

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had tremendous consequences globally. Notably, increasing complaints of verbal and physical violence against health care providers have been reported. A cross-sectional electronic survey was conducted between January 11th and February 28th, 2022 to delineate the violent behavior against front-line health professionals in Latin America. A total of 3,544 participants from 19 countries were included. The 58.5% were women, 70.8% were physicians, 16% nurses, and 13.2% were other health team members. About 54.8% reported acts of abuse: 95.6% verbal abuse, 11.1% physical abuse, and 19.9% other types. Nearly half of those who reported abuse experienced psychosomatic symptoms after the event, 56.2% considered changing their care tasks, and 33.6% considered quitting their profession. In a logistic regression model, nurses (odds ratio (OR) 1.90, p<0.001), doctors (OR 2.11, p<0.001), and administrative staff (OR 3.53, p=0.005) experienced more abuse than other health workers. Women more frequently reported abuse (OR 1.56, p<0.001), as well as those who worked directly with COVID-19 patients (OR 3.66, p<0.001). A lower probability of abuse was observed at older ages (OR 0.95, p<0.001). There has been a high prevalence of abuse against health personnel in Latin America during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those caring for COVID-19 patients, younger staff, and women were found to be at elevated risk. It is imperative to develop strategies to mitigate these acts and their repercussions on the patient-provider relationship and outcomes.

Language: en

Keywords

aggression; COVID-19; workplace violence; health personnel