Prevalence of medical workplace violence and the shortage of secondary and tertiary interventions among healthcare workers in China

Abstract

Medical workplace violence (MWV) is a key occupational hazard facing medical professionals worldwide. MWV involves incident where medical staff are abused, threatened and assaulted. MWV affects the health and well-being of medical staff exposed, causes significant erosion of patient-physician trust and leads to poorer health outcomes for patients. In China, the prevalence of MWV appears to be rising. Laws were enacted to keep medical staff safe, but clear surveillance and enforcement is needed to improve the condition. In the current essay, we conducted a systematic literature review to identify secondary and tertiary prevention programmes designed to ameliorate psychological suffering following MWV. This review identified only 10 published studies. A critical gap in the intervention literature exists with regard to addressing the public health burden of MWV.

Prevalence of workplace violence against healthcare workers: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…This meta-analysis has added some newly important findings compared with previous seven reviews and meta-analyses [13][14][15][16][17][18][19] in several important aspects. The number of included original studies, study perspective, and the scope and depth of study were different from the previous reviews.…”

“…pooled prevalence rate estimates, or have only partially included relevant studies. [17][18][19] Many more studies have been published recently, which will allow a more precise quantitative analysis of the prevalence rates of WPV against healthcare workers. Importantly, the prevention and control of WPV is not an isolated event and needs to be considered in the context of the whole health system.…”

The fight against COVID-19 and the restoration of trust in Chinese medical professionals

“…The reasons for mistrust between CMPs and patients in China are complex (Tucker et al, 2016), including the imbalance of medical resources, the lack of a cultural environment of mutual trust, the lack of medical knowledge among patients, and massive privatization and health system reforms that led to incentives that distorted fees for medical services. Patient mistrust leads to medical violence, wherein CMPs are attacked when medical procedures are unsuccessful or associated with the death of loved ones (Hall et al, 2018). In a previous study of physicians, including in Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, 92.7 % reported verbal abuse, 88.1 % experienced threats of assault and 81.0 % experienced physical assault .…”

Patient–Physician Interaction and Trust in Online Health Community: The Role of Perceived Usefulness of Health Information and Services

“…Studies have shown that patients' access to health information through the Internet has a positive impact on the improvement of patient-physician relationship [3][4][5][6]. The Internet has become the central resource for the public to obtain health information in China.Some studies found that 74.9% of medical staff viewed the current patient-physician relationship with a negative attitude, and medical disputes have frequently been reported such as violent riots, attacks, and protests in hospitals in China [7]. The tense patient-physician relationship mainly results from the lack of trust between doctors and patients, communication difficulties [8], asymmetric information [9], and cost problem [10].…”

“…Some studies found that 74.9% of medical staff viewed the current patient-physician relationship with a negative attitude, and medical disputes have frequently been reported such as violent riots, attacks, and protests in hospitals in China [7]. The tense patient-physician relationship mainly results from the lack of trust between doctors and patients, communication difficulties [8], asymmetric information [9], and cost problem [10].…”