Study on the Current Status and Influencing Factors of Workplace Violence to Medical Staff in Intensive Care Units

OBJECTIVE: To explore the current status and influencing factors of workplace violence to medical staff in intensive care unit (ICU). METHODS: A total of 230 medical staff in the ICU of Hengyang city were enrolled as the research subjects between October 2021 and January 2022. The situations and characteristics of workplace violence were collected with questionnaires. The influencing factors of workplace violence were analyzed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: The incidence of workplace violence to ICU medical staff was 40.43%. There were 18.70% of them threatened, 13.48% with verbal violence, 10.00% with physical violence, and 7.39% with sexual harassment. Of the 114 workplace violence incidents, there were 69 (59.65%) during the day, 101 (88.60%) only with medical staff on the spot, and 91 (79.82%) with male perpetrators (mainly on patients and their families). The main reasons for violence were verbal miscommunication (15.79%), too long waiting time for treatment (27.19%), and unsatisfactory treatment effect (38.60%). The main coping style of medical staff after suffering violence was patient explanation (64.04%). Multivariate regression analysis showed that working years ≤5 years (OR = 2.093, P=0.009) and weekly working time >45 h (OR = 2.127, P=0.022) were independent risk factors of workplace violence to ICU medical staff. CONCLUSION: The working years ≤5 years and weekly working time >45 h are high-risk factors of workplace violence to ICU medical staff. The hospital can prevent and control workplace violence based on the high-risk factors to reduce the incidence of workplace violence.