ABSTRACT

Purpose:

Aim of this study is to evaluate 18 years and older people’s perception of violence aganist healthcare workers who admitted some health centers in Ankara

Materials and Methods:

This cross-sectional type of study was conducted among 1179 18 years and older people who visited some family medicine clinics in Ankara and some clinics of Gazi Faculty of Medicine from October to November 2012. The questionnaire form was administered face-to-face interview technique. Chi-square and Yates adjustment chi-square test was used in the statistical analysis. Data is presented as mean (±) standartd deviation and frequency distribution. p<0.05 was adopted as statistical significance value

Results:

Of the patients 19.5% had witnessed to physical violence of the health worker, 32.7% had witnessed verbal violence. 56.3% of participants stated that health care workers most exposed to violence in emergency departments and, 55.5% thought it would be in the public hospital indicated that the most violent incidents. 22.9% of the participants think violence aganist health worker is necessary in some cases, 20.2% thought it deserved to have stated the violence. 87.5% of the participants were attended to “it is necessary to prepare legal arrangements about violence against healthcare workers” premise. Witnessed physical violence to be applied to the health status of employees was higher than that both men and people don’t use their drug regularly (p<0.05)

Conclusion:

Violence is an important occupational health problem. In this study, the most violent incidents occurred in emergency departments and public hospitals. Intervention strategies should be developed at these institutions. Legal arrangements against violence should be made