Violence Against Physicians in the Workplace: Trends, Causes, Consequences, and Strategies for Intervention

Overview

Journal Curr Psychiatry Rep

Publisher Current Science

Specialty Psychiatry

Date 2022 Nov 29

PMID 36445636

Authors

Rosangela Caruso

Tommaso Toffanin

Federica Folesani

Bruno Biancosino

Francesca Romagnolo

Michelle B Riba

Daniel McFarland

Laura Palagini

Martino Belvederi Murri

Luigi Zerbinati

Luigi Grassi

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Purpose: Violence against healthcare professionals has become an emergency in many countries. Literature in this area has mainly focused on nurses while there are less studies on physicians, whose alterations in mental health and burnout have been linked to higher rates of medical errors and poorer quality of care. We summarized peer-reviewed literature and examined the epidemiology, main causes, consequences, and areas of intervention associated with workplace violence perpetrated against physicians.

Recent Findings: We performed a review utilizing several databases, by including the most relevant studies in full journal articles investigating the problem. Workplace violence against doctors is a widespread phenomenon, present all over the world and related to a number of variables, including individual, socio-cultural, and contextual variables. During the COVID-19 pandemic, incidence of violence has increased. Data also show the possible consequences in physicians' deterioration of quality of life, burnout, and traumatic stress which are linked to physical and mental health problems, which, in a domino effect, fall on patients' quality of care. Violence against doctors is an urgent global problem with consequences on an individual and societal level. This review highlights the need to undertake initiatives aimed at enhancing understanding, prevention, and management of workplace violence in healthcare settings.

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