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Citation
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Anyomih TTK, Mehta A, Wondoh PM, Mehta A, Siokos A, Adjeso T. Singapore Med. J. 2024; ePub(ePub): ePub. |
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Abstract
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Bullying has profound negative effects on the victims and the organisations where it occurs. Workplace bullying leads to serious adverse outcomes, including depression and stress.[1] It is found to be bidirectional, whereby baseline mental health problems are associated with increased rates of bullying. Bullying affects staff morale and job satisfaction and has physical health consequences to the victims. In the medical field, this inexorably leads to poorer patient care and is a risk to patient safety.[2]
There is a lack of consensus on the definition for bullying within the literature; however, the recurring similarities in definition include a behaviour that is persistent over time, which makes someone feel intimidated or offended.[3] Bullying can take various forms, including verbal, psychological, physical and cyber bullying. The intention of the action is not of primary concern; it is the perception of the victim that he/she has been bullied that is key.[4] The medical field is generally more susceptible to bullying because of well-defined social hierarchies and a very stressful work environment.[5] These can be compounded by a stretched healthcare system, where the doctor-patient ratio is low.
Bullying is a universal problem, unbounded by profession or country. In the West, rates of bullying in health care range from 4% to 20%.[6,7,8] In the USA, a cross-sectional survey has revealed rates as high as 48%.[9] There is limited data on workplace bullying in the African healthcare system. However, the few studies that do exist show a worrying level of bullying; up to 61.9% of healthcare workers surveyed in South Africa reported psychological or physical violence at some time over a 1-year period.[10] Several studies on bullying in the healthcare system from the West have limited applicability to Ghana due to differences in culture and legal systems. Ghana is a developing country with a low doctor-patient ratio of 1 to 8,481 as of 2016,[11] and it is largely a patriarchal society with peculiar cultural mores, including an emphasis on respecting seniors and authority figures.[12]
To our knowledge, there has been no study on the prevalence and type of bullying in the Ghanaian medical system. This article aimed to address this paucity and analyse the prevalence, types and reporting patterns of bullying in the Ghanaian medical system. We predicted high rates of men bullying woman in our study as compared to that of egalitarian societies. ...
Language: en |