Prevalence and forms of violence against healthcare workers in the emergency department of a teaching hospital in Nigeria

BACKGROUND: The incidence of workplace violence (WPV) is peculiar to both developing and developed countries, with more workers at risk in developing countries, especially in sub- Saharan Africa, due to poorly developed work environment. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence and forms of violence against healthcare workers (HCWs) in the Emergency Department (ED) of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Benin City, Nigeria. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of all the 282 healthcare workers in the ED of the hospital. A standardized, interviewer-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Data was analyzed using IBM SPSS version 25.0. Descriptive statistics were presented as frequencies and proportions. RESULTS: The mean age of the HCWs was 36.1 ± 8.4 years, comprised of doctors 53 (18.8%), nurses 50 (17.7%), paramedics 36 (12.7%), porters 29 (10.3%), and laboratory scientist 19 (6.7%), among others. The prevalence of physical violence was 63 (22.3%) while that of psychological violence was 247 (87.6%). The predominant forms of violence were verbal abuse (99.5%), kicking (96.8%), slapping (60.3%), bullying (45.3%), threat (40.4%), and sexual harassment (32.4%). The perpetrators were mainly patient relatives, 93.6% and 96.7% for physical and psychological violence, respectively. The majority experienced post-traumatic stress disorder, and loss of job satisfaction following the violence. CONCLUSION: This study showed a high prevalence of WPV among the healthcare workers. There is an urgent need for intervention programmes to be initiated to curb the menace of violence against healthcare workers. A surveillance system to monitor the mental health status of victims of WPV should be instituted.