Violence in emergency service: The situation of general surgeons in Turkey

BACKGROUND: Violence in healthcare in public health is a problem about socio-economic and personal development that is unfortunately seen in every service but more frequently in emergency departments. In our study, we aimed to determine the violence experiences of general surgeons in the emergency room and their perceptions about it. METHODS: The study is designed in a cross-sectional type. We sent a survey containing 11 questions to the e-mails of 941 general surgeons registered in the National Trauma and Emergency Surgery Association in August–September 2019. The rate of participation to the online survey was 9.98%. RESULTS: The participants who have been subjected to violence in anyway and who have never encountered violence were 64.9% and 16.0%, respectively. Female surgeons composed 10.6% of the participants and their rate of exposure to violence was 90.0%. When the number of patients accepted by the surgeon increased, the rate of being exposed to violence rose (p=0.014). Those who’re exposed to verbal violence applied to courts less frequently (p=0.046). The surgeons whose had to applied to courts could not receive remarkable support from their institutions. The participants stated that who’re source of violence should get effective punishments and victims should be strongly supported. CONCLUSION: The specialists exposed to violence in the emergency room include general surgeons. Increase of the risk of exposure to violence for surgeons correlates workload. Verbal violence moved to the court stage has observed less frequently than the physical. It would be appropriate to take serious sanctions strengthened by legal regulations as the first step toward a solution.