Many health-care workers witness abuse at work: study

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/12/2016 (2701 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Hundreds of health-care workers are exposed to abusive behaviour in Canadian operating rooms that includes physical violence, a study conducted by University of Manitoba researchers determined.

Nearly half of the respondents to a survey conducted between July 2013 and July 2014 reported witnessing at least one of three types of abusive behaviours, the study, released Friday and published in the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia, states.

Of 1,540 operating-room clinicians surveyed, 448 reported hearing verbal threats in the previous year, 475 reported invasions of personal space for the purpose of intimidation and 154 clinicians reported seeing physical assaults.

The respondents included nurses, doctors, surgeons, anesthesiologists and any other professionals who might occupy an operating theatre.

Dr. Eric Jacobsohn, one of the study’s authors and a professor of anesthesia at U of M’s Max Rady College of Medicine, said the study, while small in scope, indicates more analysis is “urgently required.”

Jacobsohn said reaction to the survey results varies widely between patients and health professionals.

“Whenever we present this to laypeople, that’s the response we get: ‘Wow, I’m absolutely stunned this still happens.’ But when we present to medical people around the world they say, ‘Yes, of course.’ But you know what, it was a lot better 25 years ago.”

Still, Jacobsohn was surprised by the high number of incidents. In particular, he described reports of over 150 incidents of physical assaults as “staggering” and a danger to patient welfare.

“That should be a ‘never’ event,” he said.

“You could say the incident is probably a fraction of a fraction of a percentage point… If you and I were on a plane and the pilot was having an altercation with a co-pilot, none of us would be accepting.”

The study was co-authored by Alexander Villafranca, a researcher in the U of M’s department of anesthesia, and Colin Hamlin, a department research assistant. It was conducted as part of a larger project investigating a range of disrespectful behaviours amongst clinicians in seven countries. Surveys were sent to more than 16,000 health-care workers.

Villafranca said “considerable efforts” are being made to ensure optimal teamwork and communication in the operating room. But the study revealed “there are still rather egregious behaviours that occur in a minority of instances.

“We need to be doing more to get that number down to zero,” he added.

However, Villafranca noted the factors that lead to bad behaviour are commonplace in most operating rooms.

“You’ve got people in a small space working long hours under very strenuous conditions,” he said.

“Also, the stakes are so incredibly high because the patient’s life is in your hands. All of this can potentially create a perfect storm for bad behaviour if we let it.”

The findings will be used to study how clinicians respond to disrespectful behaviours and how some of the responses may amplify the effects.

— with files from Randy Turner