Workplace violence against medical staff in public primary healthcare facilities in Barbados

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of physical and psychological violence amongst the medical staff in the eight public polyclinics of Barbados. DESIGN AND METHODS: A cross sectional study was conducted utilising a modified version of the standard Workplace Violence Questionnaire by the World Health Organisation, designed to assess the prevalence, types and features of workplace violence. All nursing and physician staff on duty at the island’s eight polyclinics during the study period (June-July 2014) were invited to participate. Statistical analysis was performed using Epi info 7. RESULTS: Of the 102 respondents (72% response rate), a total of 63% (95% CI 53.0%-72.4%) of nursing and physician staff at the polyclinics in Barbados reported having suffered at least one incident of violence in the past 12 months. Verbal abuse was the most frequent (60%; 95% CI 50.1%- 69.7%). The one-year prevalence rates of physical violence, bullying, sexual harassment, and racial harassment were 2.9%, 18.8%, 6.9% and 2.9%, respectively. Logistic regression showed that females were more likely to experience verbal abuse than males (OR=11; 95% CI 2.8-43.1) and nurses more likely than physicians (OR=1.9; 95% CI 1.1-4.7). The client accounted for 64% of the incidents. CONCLUSIONS: More than half of all staff surveyed reported experiencing some type of violence in the past year, female gender being a significant predictor of abuse. This initial process of characterising the extent and type of violence present, can serve as a foundation for further qualitative research exploring reasons for violence experienced.

An epidemiological description of illness in passengers and crew at the Bridgetown Barbados port and cruise terminal

OBJECTIVE: To describe and analyse the epidemiology of illnesses experienced by passengers and crew arriving at the Bridgetown Port, Barbados between 2009 and 2013. DESIGN AND METHODS: Data were extracted from the passenger and crew arrival registers and passenger and crew illness logs. This was done for all vessels arriving at the Bridgetown Port between January 2009 and December 2013. Data were entered into an Epi Info database and analysis done using Epi Info Version 7. RESULTS: There were 1031 cases of illness from over 3 million passenger visits and 1 million crew. The overall event rate for communicable illnesses was 15.7 (95% CI 14.4 - 17.1) per 100,000 passengers, and for crew was 24.0 (21.6 - 26.6) per 100, 000 crew. Gastroenteritis was the predominant illness experienced by passengers and crew followed by influenza. The event rate for gastroenteritis among passengers was 13.7 (12.5 -15.0) per 100,000 and 14.4 (12.6, 16.5) for crew. The event rate for non-communicable illnesses was 3.4 per 100,000 passengers with myocardial infarction being the main diagnosis. The event rate for non-communicable illnesses among crew was 2.1 per 100,000, the leading cause being injuries. CONCLUSIONS: The predominant illnesses reported were gastroenteritis and influenza similar to previous published reports from around the world, but gastroenteritis was the predominant illness, unlike most other published studies. There is a role for Port Health Officers to assist the food safety and sanitation efforts on cruise liners and more frequent inspections and investigations of diseases outbreaks may be helpful.