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

ABSTRACT

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.