Self defense training for prospectice doctors and medical staff – opportunities and attitudes

Abstract

Violence over doctors and medical staff is a serious social issue that has been neglected in modern society. Numerous attacks on emergency medical care workers and ward and office medical professionals have been witnessed in recent years, and in most cases these incidents were left without consequence or with occasional convictions. This survey aims to study the attitudes among the students of the Medical University of Sofia regarding the problem with aggression and violence against medical professionals and employees in the medical sector in Bulgaria and the opportunities that self-defence training at the Medical University gives. The study was carried out by means of applying the survey method with students who participated in the elective course (module) of Self-defense which was conducted during the second semester of 2020 – 2021 academic year. The conclusions that can be drawn, indicate that the participants are very well informed about the problem with aggression against medical professionals, and they consider poor organization in the healthcare sector as the main cause of the problem. Nevertheless, survey participants believe that incriminating aggressive behavior against medical staff is not going to bring the desired results against this kind of behavior. The attitude of the students who participated in the self-defense training sessions was extremely positive as they claim that this type of additional training could be the first step of future doctors to opposing aggression in the health-care sector.