Verbal and physical abuse towards health care workers in emergency services

Abstract

One of the peculiarities of our society is the increase in violence and its repercussions in various areas. Health care is not an exemption. To determine the prevalence of physical violence, verbal abuse towards emergency service health care workers at two public and two private health centers in the province of Concepción, Chile. A questionnaire for Work Violence in Health Centers, with dimensions about physical violence and verbal abuse was applied to 366 health care workers, stratified according to center and occupational categories. Thirteen percent of workers perceived physical violence. Paramedical technicians had the higher risk of perceiving this type of violence. Fifty nine percent of workers perceived verbal abuse. Nurses and administrative staff had the higher risk of perceiving this type of violence. The most common offenders were patients and family. The most common form of coping with abuse was avoiding a reaction. Most of the physical and verbal aggressions were not reported or denounced. There is a high prevalence of verbal abuse and physical violence in emergency services, which requires measures to achieve a zero tolerance to violence in these spaces.