Abstract
Objectives: To assess the prevalence, characteristics and consequences of verbal abuse among physicians, and to determine its association with physicians' demographic and occupational characteristics
Design: Cross-sectional study
Settings: King Fahd Hospital of the University, Saudi Arabia
Subjects: By total sample, the study included 359 physicians.
Intervention: We used a self-administered questionnaire that was developed by the World Health Organization to collect the data.
Main Outcome Measures: Prevalence of verbal abuse against physicians
Results: During the 12-month period prior to the study, more than one-third of physicians experienced verbal abuse (36.5%). Patients and their relatives carried out most incidents. The majority of physicians didn't report the cases; most of them believed that reporting is useless. After logistic regression analysis, physicians with a higher degree of worrying about violence in the workplace were more likely to face verbal abuse. Residents were more likely to be exposed to verbal abuse than consultants.
Conclusion: Workplace verbal abuse is a significant problem. The presence of a high number of cases in addition to the low reporting rates is an alarming issue. An effective reporting system should be established, and all physicians should be supported, reassured and encouraged to report.