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Objectives: Violence in health is increasing as a common problem of health care workers (HCWs). According to the Ministry of Health; in the first 6 months of 2018, 7644 HCWs were exposed to verbal and physical violence. This study was conducted as a Social Responsibility Project with first year students of Medical Faculty. The aim of the study was to increase awareness to violence in health, to determine the attitudes of HCW’s about violence and to take proposals for prevention of violence.
Methods: A charity bazaar was performed to increase awareness to violence in health in our hospital. In the city center, volunteers were asked about their opinions about the violence in health. A questionnaire was used to evaluate the opinions and attitudes of HCWs about health violence and to ask their suggestions for prevention of violence. Afterwards, a conference on violence in health was organized; public comments and survey data were shared.
Results: A total of 249 HCWs were interviewed in 151 (60.6%) females and 98 (39.4%) males with a mean age of 28.1±6.4 years. The incidence of verbal/physical violence in the study population was 72.9%. Ninety-one percent of the participants said they experienced anxiety when they came to work because of the increased news about violence in health and 77 (31.7%) stated they would not choose this profession again if they had the chance to choose again. Eighty-five percent of the HCWs believed that the law was not sufficient to punish health violence, 84.8% of them thought that prevention strategies was not sufficient in hospital and 68.9% of them reported that the presence of security officials did not feel safe. The most common recommendations for the prevention of violence were the law on violence in health and the implementation of public spots for the public. The recommendation of placement of x-ray devices at the entrance of the hospital was significantly higher in those who had previously experienced verbal/physical violence (p=0.008).
Conclusion: As in our country, the incidence of violence in health is high in our hospital. The fact that approximately 1/3 of the HCWs don’t want to choose this profession again even if they have a choice again, the high level of anxiety and not feeling safe in the working environment, reveal a very important problem. It is thought that the issuance of a violent law including deterrent punishments against violence in health and public spots will be useful in preventing violence.