Abstract
The objective of this study was to investigate the frequency and potential factors associated with violence, as well as the types of perpetrators involved, physical injuries, and psychological consequences experienced by doctors in Islamabad's tertiary care hospitals. A cross-sectional survey based on research questionnaires was used. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaires from the tertiary care hospitals of Islamabad from January to August 2021. The sample consists of (n = 115) medical doctors of different specialties. A total of 53 (46.10%) participants reported a high degree of concern about violent incidents, of whom 33 (28.70%) female doctors and 20 (20.17%) male doctors showed their responses to the high degree of violent incidents. Furthermore, the results show that 58 (50.40%) participants were not properly prepared for managing the violence. Similarly, 58 (50.40%) participants have experienced violence during the past 6 months, while 95 (82.60%) doctors witnessed violent incidents toward doctors during the past 6 months. Moreover, doctors working in the emergency and accident departments were more vulnerable to be victims of violence compared with doctors working in other departments during the past 6 months. A significant perpetrator proportion (n = 43; 74.13%) were reported to be the attendants of patients. However, doctors working in the psychiatry department were more vulnerable to serious physical violence (χ2 = 10.40, p = 0.01). Approximately 90% of victims reported some kind of psychological impact where fear was found more common in females, while anger has been found more common in males (χ2 = 7.92, p = 0.01).
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