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The phenomenon of violence at work in the health care sector has been recently highlighted in two surveys released in Spain and in the United Kingdom.
In Spain, a survey carried out by an organization representing 240,000 nurses has revealed that one nurse out of three admits to have experienced violence at the workplace in 2005. In 49,2% of cases, the attacker was a patient and in 29,5% of cases, it was a patient’s acquaintance.
Hospital emergencies, primary healthcare centres and hospitals are most vulnerable. The study also reveals that 50% of the nurses are suffering from burnout and 80% admitted having witnessed mobbing at work.
In the United Kingdom, the problem of violence at work is still preoccupying in spite of a slight decrease in 2005. This is the main conclusion from the 2005 National Health Service (NHS) survey.
Out of 209,000 people who took part in the survey, 28 % admitted to have experienced either violence or abuse in the previous 12 months, versus 31% in 2004 and 32% in 2003.
The survey indicated that a low percentage - only 50% - of staff members who had been victims of violence and abuse disclosed what they had gone through.The percentage of people who experienced physical violence and who disclosed this type of abuse was slightly higher, ie. 67%.
Only 50% of staff members believed that their employer would take proper action if they were assaulted .Only one out of four persons reported to have undergone training in the past 12 months on how to prevent aggression and on how to deal with it.
Already in 2003, a report by the National Audit Office (NAO) had raised awareness of problems associated with violence among the NHS staff. It revealed that 95,501 incidents had occurred in 2001-2002. This figure represents 14 incidents monthly out of 1,000 workers. In the mental health sector, this figure reached 33 incidents. The direct cost was estimated at 173 million pounds. It did not take into account human costs caused by physical and psychological pain, stress, loss of self-confidence and loss of employment.
- Spanish study
- 2005 NHS survey
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