Prevalence of Violence against Health Care Personnel in a Tertiary Care Centre, Hubballi, India

Abstract

Background: The sudden outburst of events in different parts of country like Dhule, Dharwad, Chennai and Jaipur led to the need of conducting a survey about violence against health care personnel. Health care personnel are at high risk of being victims of verbal and physical violence, its effect on them and their views on causes for sudden increase in such events. Methodology: A semi-structured questionnaire regarding their experience with violence against health care personnel was prepared. Data was collected for two months –May and June 2017. Sample size of 200 was calculated which included doctors, nursing staff and group D workers from KIMS Hubballi and analysed using SPSS version 21. Results: 99.5% were aware of increasing violent events.76% of them have experienced violence of which, Verbal abuse- 92.10% being the highest form, emotional abuse -17.76% and physical violence 6.58%. The common place of violence was the emergency department -62.09% during daily working hours. 92.10% have reported that patient attenders caused violence. Conclusion: Verbal and emotional abuse against health care workers has significantly amplified which is deteriorating physician patient relationship. Violence against health care personnel is a serious issue that needs to be dealt with more safety measures at the hospital.