Medical vandalism: Awareness and opinions; beyond the clinician's window

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Medical vandalism has become a major matter of concern in today's world. The number of violent mob attacks on doctors and other medical personnel is on the rise. This trend is having a negative impact on the proper functioning of healthcare system thus affecting the quality of care and treatment. The aim of this study is to assess the awareness and opinions of the stakeholders in healthcare facilities about vandalism in today's medical practice. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey study was conducted in Acharya Vinoba Bhave Rural Hospital among 360 participants, comprising of nurses, patient's relatives, security personnel and non-medical staff in the Emergency Care Units and wards. A detailed questionnaire was prepared and used to assess the opinion of the subjects covering various aspects of medical vandalism such as prevalence of vandalism, experiences of vandalism at work, various factors causing medical vandalism, initiatives taken by the respondents to curb vandalism and awareness about various laws implemented by the government that help prevent vandalism. RESULTS: Majority of the participants were of the opinion that medical vandalism was prevalent in India. Overcrowding of patients, inadequate skilled healthcare providers and occurrence of sudden death in casualty are among the major factors that trigger vandalism. This issue has been on the rise in both government and private setups, and nurses seem to be the major victims of such cruelness. 80% of the subjects admitted that verbal abuse was more common than physical abuse. CONCLUSION: Although violence against all healthcare professionals has been recorded since historical times, the current scenario of the country is disturbing. Immediate measures need to be taken to curb vandalism. Various laws need to be implemented to strictly punish those who create violence. Likewise, institutions must ensure the availability of adequate staff and facilities to reduce events that make the bystanders aggressive.