Workplace violence among emergency medical services workers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: Globally, workplace violence toward health care providers is an area of concern. The impact of workplace violence on health care providers is significant. Objectives: The study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of workplace violence (physical and verbal) among emergency medical services (EMS) workers in Riyadh. Methods: The study used a cross-sectional design that employed a self-administered confidential questionnaire, which was distributed to all emergency medical personnel. A well-structured and validated questionnaire on workplace violence was adopted from the World Health Organization for use in the study. Results: A total of 370 EMS workers responded to the questionnaire. Workplace violence was experienced by 65% of the respondents. Verbal abuse (61%) was the most common type of violence reported. The majority of the attackers were patients' relatives (80%) followed by patients themselves (51%). Respondents younger than 30 reported a higher percentage of violent acts than did older respondents (p = .001, Odds ratio [OR] = 2.5, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] = (1.6, 3.9)). Similarly, those who had fewer years of work experience (≤ 10 years) reported a significantly higher percentage of violent incidents than those who had 10 or more years of experience (p = .001, OR = 3.5, 95% CI = 2.1, 5.6). Only 10% of the victims reported the incident to a higher authority. Common reasons for not reporting the violent acts included feeling that it was useless (56%) and that it was not important (52%). Discussion: The study demonstrates prevalent workplace violence among EMS workers, predominantly in the form of verbal abuse. The rate of workplace violence among EMS personnel is comparable with international figures. Less than half of EMS personnel exhibit knowledge regarding the process of violence reporting. However, workers tend not to report the incidents because they often believe that reporting is useless and/or not important. Recommendation: With a high reported rate of workplace violence among EMS personnel, we recommend national preventive measures and encouragement to professionals to report violent events. We also recommend awareness programs for the identified vulnerable group.

Iranian pre‐hospital emergency care nurses' strategies to manage workplace violence: A descriptive qualitative study

“…One of the findings of the study revealed non‐reaction to workplace violence as one of the common strategies used by the nurses participating in the study. The non‐reaction to workplace violence among pre‐hospital staff is not a new issue, and some studies in the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia (EMTs) (Alharthy et al, ) and Iran (EMTs) (Hosseinikia, Zarei, Najafi Kalyani, & Tahamtan, ) confirm this finding. What is important in this study is that the reasons for the non‐reaction to workplace violence were uncovered, which included fears of a deteriorating incident scene, harming the patient and ineffective follow‐up of workplace violence.…”

“…The main reasons for the high prevalence of workplace violence in the pre‐hospital setting include critical workplace conditions, working in unpredictable environments (Bigham et al, ; Gormley et al, ), unexpected deaths, driving accidents and severe injuries (King, ; Lindström, Bohm, & Kurland, ). In this regard, studies have reported the annual rate of all types of workplace violence experienced by EMTs as follows: 65% in Saudi Arabia (Alharthy et al, ); 75% in Iran (Rahmani et al, ); 67% in Turkey (Deniz, Saygun, Eroğlu, Ülger, & Azapoğlu, ); 66% in Sweden (Petzäll et al, ); 83% in India (Dhar et al, ); 88% in Australia (Boyle, Koritsas, Coles, & Stanley, ); and 75% in Canada (Bigham et al, ).…”

Violence against Health-Care Workers in Governmental Health Facilities in Arar City, Saudi Arabia

“…In a Turkish study, the risk of violence was 2.4 times higher among HCWs aged less than 30 years than older ones; however, the experience duration was not a significant risk factor for violence [14]. In Riyadh, KSA, two studies showed that less experienced and younger HCWs respondents were more likely to encounter violent attacks than their counterparts [5,10]. Unexpectedly, the present study showed that older HCWs aged 50 years or more were 6 times more likely to experience violence than younger HCWs aged less than 30 years (P < 0.0001, OR � 6.24, 95% CI: 2.43-15.9).…”

“…e most frequent type of violence was verbal abuse. e aggressor can be the patient, patient's relatives, or coworker [5]. In another study in Riyadh, almost half of the nurses had been attacked, and the majority of participants perceived violence as verbal abuse.…”

Acil yardım istasyonu çalışanlarında işe bağlı gerginliğin, anksiyete ve depresyon riski ile ilişkisi

“…Ambulans çalışanları yüksek oranda şiddete maruz kalmaktadır. [29][30][31] Fiziksel ve sözel şiddete maruz kalan acil yardım merkezi çalışanlarının, herhangi bir saldırganlığa maruz kalmamış olanlara kıyasla anksiyete oranlarının anlamlı olarak daha yüksek olduğu bulunmuştur. 32 Yapılan bir çalışmada Acil hizmeti sunanların %68'nin kişisel güvenliklerinden korktuğunu bildirmektedir.…”