The Reality of Violence Threatening Health Envoys

Abstract

The phenomenon of violence in health, which has a global prevalence, is accepted as one of the important public health problems by the World Health Organization. The world Health Organization defines this phenomenon as “the situation where physical force or power is applied to another person in the form of an intentional threat or reality, causing or likely to cause injury, death or psychological harm to the exposed person”. Many studies conducted around the world show that violence against health care workers has reached advanced levels. Thereport titled “Physical and Verbal Violence against Healthcare Professionals” published by The Joint Commission in 2018 reveals remarkable figures. According to the related report, 75 percent of approximately 25 thousand workplace attacks each year occur in health care facilities. According to statistics, it has been stated that the rate of exposure to verbal violence among health care workers is higher. Studies on the rates of exposure to violence of health care workers have revealed that they are exposed to violence more than other workplaces, but they are recorded at a lower rate. Therefore, it can be said that the actual rates are higher than expected. Generally, 86% of patients and their relatives resort to violence in health care facilities, and 54% of them are relatives of patients who resort to violence; It has been found that almost all of those who resort to violence are men. Men are more likely to resort to physical violence than women.