Study finds severity of healthcare worker violence rising

GPs are facing escalating violence, and more of it, in the years following the pandemic response.
 
A study from the University of Queensland shows violence against healthcare workers is getting more frequent and more severe.
 
The review, led by Dr Conor O’Brien, looked at more than 3000 studies globally and mapped the causes, prevalence and impacts of violence against healthcare workers between 2016 and 2023.
 
The research found violence is on the rise, and so are the casualties.
 
‘There is evidence female workers were at greater risk of non-physical violence and sexual harassment, while male workers were at higher risk of physical violence,’ Dr O’Brien said.
 
RACGP President Dr Nicole Higgins told newsGP the research is supporting ‘what we’re hearing from GPs and their teams around Australia’.
 
‘It certainly reflects our experience, especially post-COVID as patients have increased demands and expectations on healthcare workers in an environment where people are often under stress,’ she said.
 
The study comes after a patient was shot and killed after pulling a gun on a GP earlier this year and there have been accounts of GPs walking away from their careers after dealing with aggressive patients.
 
Dr Higgins said the reasons behind the aggression are ‘multifactorial’.
 
‘Sometimes it is simply bad behaviour, sometimes it’s related to a medical psychiatric illness,’ she said.
 
‘But there seems to be a reducing level of respect for the work that healthcare worker teams do.’
 
The study found that globally, more than 370 healthcare workers have been killed in the past seven years, with the issue most apparent in the United States, where 156 staff members were killed in their workplace
 
It added that ‘the nature of workplace violence (WPV) and the methods used to study it makes identifying causation difficult’.
 
‘A myriad of causes, risk factors and risk markers for WPV are described,’ it reads.
 
This includes unmet expectations, dissatisfaction with treatment, stress, acute illness, long wait times, healthcare costs, and poor communication.
 
Dr O’Brien said those identified as most at risk were in emergency, on nightshifts, and younger, less experienced staff.
                        
Most practices have implemented key safety protocols to deal with violent patients, Dr Higgins says.
 
‘Such as individuals having personal alarms for doctors and their staff at their desks, to look at the layout of the room, to ensure that the GP is closest to the door,’ she said.
 
Dr O’Brien said Australia was among the countries that had implemented numerous policies and legislative measures addressing workplace violence over the past two decades.
 
‘Although important, they haven’t led to reductions in violent incidents which highlights the complexity of the problem,’ he said.
 
The RACGP recently called for stronger national protection for GPs and health workers, after New South Wales changed its laws earlier this year.
 
There have also been call outs from advocates for GPs to not accept violence as ‘just part of the job’.
 
Dr Higgins said governments needed to shift away from focusing just on hospital staff on the frontlines but ‘recognise that most people are seen in a community with their GP’.
 
‘The practices need to be supported and funded to ensure that they are able to provide safe working environments for their staff,’ she said.
 
‘It’s really sad to say, but this is something that we all deal with every day in our practice.
 
‘What the government can do would be actually empowering Primary Health Networks to train practices, to educate and support practice staff, who are often at the frontline of dealing with aggressive and abusive patients.’
 
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