Abstract

Workplace violence has been documented in all sectors and healthcare workers are at increased risk than the other sectors. It affects not only the emotional or mental well being of the victims but also negatively affect quality of healthcare. The aim of this study is to determine the frequency, consequences and causes of workplace violence in a medical college in Manipur. A cross sectional survey was conducted among all the junior doctors. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire assessing the type and frequency, causes and impact of workplace violence. A total of 310 junior doctors participated. The prevalence of verbal violence and physical violence in the last twelve months were 47.4% and 2.9% respectively. There was no association between age and gender with workplace violence but among the junior doctors postgraduate students were more likely to had faced violence (p=0.016). While 55.5% of those who faced physical violence were very dissatisfied by the way the incident was handled a small proportion (10.9%) of those who were verbally abused were dissatisfied. The most common reason for violence as perceived by the doctors was aggressive nature of the patient party (26.3%) and the most common suggestion fro prevention of violence was to strengthening security system (21.6%).

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