The AMA is calling on governments and hospitals to introduce a range of measures to tackle workplace violence.
This week, we released our new position statement on Managing and responding to violence in the medical workplace .
It offers a comprehensive approach to addressing violence in the medical workplace, particularly in public hospitals.
The World Health Organization estimates up to 38 per cent of medical professionals will suffer from physical violence at some point in their careers and some estimates predict up to 95 per cent of Australian healthcare professionals have experienced the effects of physical and verbal violence.
Medical staff who are attacked at work suffer physical injuries, including serious harm and death, but also the psychological impacts of increased stress, sleep disturbances, moral injury, anxiety, anger, decreased job dissatisfaction, more leave days, presenteeism, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Workplace violence also negatively impacts patients, who are at risk of physical and psychological harm because of the violent incidents they may experience and/or witness, and it negatively impacts on patient care and outcomes.
We’re calling for governments and hospitals to lead change, including the implementation of risk-management systems to reduce the impact and instance of workplace violence, investment in reporting, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to assess the effectiveness of the risk prevention and management strategies, and increased investment by hospitals and medical workplaces to support doctors affected by workplace violence.
