Incidence and prevalence of violence toward health care workers in emergency departments: a multicenter cross-sectional survey

Mohammed Alshahrani; Razan Alfaisal; Khalid Alshahrani; Leyan Alotaibi; Hissah Alghoraibi; Eman Alghamdi; Lulwah Almusallam; Zaineh Saffarini; Salihah Alessa; Faten Alwayel; Lubna Saffarini; Ali Alrawdhan; Charlene Mapusao; Laila Perlas Asonto; Amal Alsulaibikh; Mohammed Aljumaan

doi:10.1186/s12245-021-00394-1

Incidence and prevalence of violence toward health care workers in emergency departments: a multicenter cross-sectional survey

Int J Emerg Med. 2021 Dec 14;14(1):71. doi: 10.1186/s12245-021-00394-1.

Authors

Mohammed Alshahrani¹, Razan Alfaisal², Khalid Alshahrani³, Leyan Alotaibi³, Hissah Alghoraibi³, Eman Alghamdi³, Lulwah Almusallam^{3

4}, Zaineh Saffarini⁵, Salihah Alessa⁶, Faten Alwayel⁶, Lubna Saffarini⁷, Ali Alrawdhan⁶, Charlene Mapusao⁸, Laila Perlas Asonto⁸, Amal Alsulaibikh⁸, Mohammed Aljumaan⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Emergency, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, PO Box 40236, Al Khobar, 31952, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. msshahrani@iau.edu.sa.
² Emergency Medicine, King Fahad Specialist Hospital, Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
³ College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Emergency Medicine Department, Security Forces Hospital, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Pediatrics Department, Dubai Health Authorities, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
⁶ Emergency Medicine Department, King Fahd Medical City, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Emergency Medicine, Rashid Hospital Trauma Center, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
⁸ Department of Emergency, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, PO Box 40236, Al Khobar, 31952, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Background: Workplace violence and abuse in the emergency department (ED) has increasingly become a serious and alarming phenomenon worldwide where health care professionals are more prone to violence compared with other specialties.

Aims: We aimed to estimate prevalence, and types of work place violence made against health care workers (HCW) in emergency departments of Arabian Gulf area.

Methods: We performed a descriptive cross-sectional study at several emergency departments in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates wherein a previously validated questionnaire was distributed among health care workers. The survey consisted of 22 questions that assessed respondent's workplace violence and/or abuse encounters, protective measures, available work place policies, and actions implemented to detect and deal with violence and abuse against healthcare providers. Descriptive statistics was used and P value < 0.05 was considered significant for all statistical tests performed.

Results: Seven hundred HCW in eleven emergency departments agreed to participate in the survey. Four hundred ninety-two completed the questionnaire with a response rate of 70%. More than 90% of the respondents were in the 20-39 years old bracket with an approximately equal gender distribution. Then, 20.9% of the respondents stated that they were physically attacked and 32.3% were attacked with a weapon. Most of the respondents (75.6%) reported that they were verbally abused or bullied by patients or relatives of patients. Staff responses to emotional abuse varied among respondents with the most frequent response of "told the person to stop" (22%), followed by "took no action" (19%). Further, 83.3% of respondents stated that there was an existing policy and procedure guidelines for reporting work place violence while 30.1% reported that they had not used any of these measures.

Conclusion: Workplace violence among HCW in the emergency departments are common in the Gulf area and can be serious in as far as use of weapons. Staff awareness focus on this under reported issue, and staff training to recognize and report potential aggression can predict a significant reduction of incidents.

Keywords: Emergency Department; Health care workers; Workplace violence.