What does this research mean for the field?

Workplace violence against healthcare professionals in emergency departments is a highly prevalent, multifactorial problem primarily perpetrated by patients and relatives, and driven by organizational and contextual factors such as overcrowding, staff shortages, and communication failures. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.SYNTHESIS. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

To synthesize evidence on the prevalence, forms, perpetrators, and determinants of workplace violence against emergency department healthcare professionals, with a focus on Pakistan within international literature.

September 14, 2026BMC Emergency MedicineOpen Access

Prevalence, determinants, and consequences of workplace violence in emergency departments - a systematic review

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark

Authors

SSSalman Muhammad Soomar PKPardeep Kumar RDRubaid Dhillon

Discussion

Member takes

Overview

Systematic review finds widespread verbal and physical workplace violence against emergency healthcare workers, highlighting the need for organizational reforms and improved security systems.

Key Points

To synthesize evidence on the prevalence, forms, perpetrators, and determinants of workplace violence against emergency department healthcare professionals, with a focus on Pakistan within international literature.
Conducted a systematic review following PRISMA guidelines across PubMed, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, and CINAHL for peer-reviewed studies published between January 2015 and December 2025.
Included quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, and evidence-synthesis studies evaluating workplace violence among healthcare staff in emergency settings, incorporating quality and risk-of-bias appraisals.
Across 29 included studies, workplace violence prevalence ranged from approximately 33% in Pakistan to over 90% in Taiwan, with verbal abuse affecting 52–91% and physical violence affecting 7.8–74.9% of professionals.
Patients and their relatives were identified as the primary perpetrators, largely driven by communication failures, prolonged waiting times, overcrowding, staff shortages, and night shifts.
Workplace violence was substantially underreported due to normalization and inadequate institutional support, causing psychological distress, anxiety, reduced job satisfaction, and increased turnover intentions.

Cite This Study

Soomar et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6aa7b2530926e14a848b0c2c https://doi.org/10.1186/s12873-026-01778-3

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark

September 14, 2026BMC Emergency MedicineOpen Access

Prevalence, determinants, and consequences of workplace violence in emergency departments - a systematic review

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark

Authors

SSSalman Muhammad Soomar PKPardeep Kumar RDRubaid Dhillon

Discussion

Member takes

Overview

Systematic review finds widespread verbal and physical workplace violence against emergency healthcare workers, highlighting the need for organizational reforms and improved security systems.

Key Points

To synthesize evidence on the prevalence, forms, perpetrators, and determinants of workplace violence against emergency department healthcare professionals, with a focus on Pakistan within international literature.
Conducted a systematic review following PRISMA guidelines across PubMed, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, and CINAHL for peer-reviewed studies published between January 2015 and December 2025.
Included quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, and evidence-synthesis studies evaluating workplace violence among healthcare staff in emergency settings, incorporating quality and risk-of-bias appraisals.
Across 29 included studies, workplace violence prevalence ranged from approximately 33% in Pakistan to over 90% in Taiwan, with verbal abuse affecting 52–91% and physical violence affecting 7.8–74.9% of professionals.
Patients and their relatives were identified as the primary perpetrators, largely driven by communication failures, prolonged waiting times, overcrowding, staff shortages, and night shifts.
Workplace violence was substantially underreported due to normalization and inadequate institutional support, causing psychological distress, anxiety, reduced job satisfaction, and increased turnover intentions.

Cite This Study

Soomar et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6aa7b2530926e14a848b0c2c https://doi.org/10.1186/s12873-026-01778-3

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark