Factors contributing to workplace violence against doctors in a tertiary care teaching hospital in South India

Introduction: The objective was to study the factors contributing to workplace violence against doctors in a tertiary care teaching hospital. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted after obtaining institutional ethical clearance and requisite permissions from the authorities of the tertiary care hospital. Information was obtained using a validated semi-structured questionnaire from doctors having at least 1 year of experience in the hospital after obtaining informed written consent. To assess the prevalence of violence against doctors in the current settings, the data obtained was analyzed using SPSS software. To assess the contributing factors, the selected variables were correlated to find those factors associated to workplace violence against doctors in this setting. Along with these, knowledge and awareness among doctors regarding reporting procedures and local policies was also assessed to identify reasons for underreporting of violence in the tertiary healthcare setting. Results: A total of 263 doctors were included in the study out of a sample size of 296. The prevalence of violence was found to be 35.7%. The most common type of violence among those who experienced violence in the last 12 months was verbal abuse (86.2%) followed by mobbing or bullying (7.4%) and physical violence (5.3%). The most common contributing factors that showed statistically significant values for association with violence were Miscommunication 86.2% (P= 0.01), Prolonged waiting time 70.2% (P= 0.09), Death of the patient 31.9% (P= 0.00), Billing issues 28.7% (P= 0.46) and others 19.1% (P=0.01).