Violence Towards Emergency Residents in Malaysia: The Unforeseen Perpetrators Among Us

Abstract

Aim: Workplace violence in the emergency department (ED) is a common occurrence worldwide, affecting staff across all roles, compromising the safety, health, self-esteem, and job satisfaction of healthcare workers. Combating workplace violence in healthcare settings is a massive challenge as the problem’s true scope is unknown due to insufficient documentation or underreporting. Thus, this study aims to explore and examine the magnitude and attitude of ED residents (ERs) towards workplace violence. Materials and Methods: This study is a single centre, questionnaire-based, anonymous, and self-administered cross-sectional survey involving 63 ERs. A chi-square test examined the relationship between variables. Composite measures condensed the vast number of variables data into a single indicator. Results: Workplace violence in ED was reported by 93.6% of respondents. Verbal assault (88.9%) was the predominant form of violence. Unforeseen perpetrators include physicians (17.5%), non-ED staff of the hospital (17.5%) and other ED staff (14.3%). The common site of violence occurrence was a non-critical area (81%). There was no significant relationship between attitude and gender (p=0.93) or race (p=0.70) or designation (p=0.45). Composite measure of attitude scores revealed that 50.8% of respondents had a positive attitude towards workplace violence in ED. Conclusion: Violence among ERs is an undeniable existence. Co-worker as the perpetrator is not acceptable at all. A continuous effort from ERs, ED staff and ED managers is required to mitigate the growing phenomenon of workplace violence in ED.