TY - JOUR PY - 2019// TI - Workplace violence among prehospital care providers in India: a cross-sectional study JO - BMJ open A1 - Lindquist, Benjamin A1 - Koval, Kathryn A1 - Mahadevan, Aditya A1 - Gennosa, Christine A1 - Leggio, William A1 - Niknam, Kian A1 - Rao, G. V. Ramana A1 - Newberry, Jennifer A. A1 - Strehlow, Matthew SP - e033404 EP - e033404 VL - 9 IS - 11 N2 - OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) establish the prevalence of safety threats and workplace violence (WPV) experienced by emergency medical technicians (EMTs) in a low/middle-income country with a new prehospital care system, India and (2) understand which EMTs are at particularly high risk for these experiences. SETTING: EMTs from four Indian states (Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana) were eligible to participate during the study period from July through November 2017.

METHODS: Cross-sectional survey study. PARTICIPANTS: 386 practicing EMTs from four Indian states.

RESULTS: The overall prevalence of any WPV was 67.9% (95% CI 63.0% to 72.5%). The prevalence of physical assault was 58% (95% CI 52.5% to 63.4%) and verbal assault was 59.8% (95% CI 54.5% to 65%). Of physical assault victims, 21.7% were injured and 30.2% sought medical attention after the incident. Further, 57.3% (n=216) of respondents reported they were 'somewhat worried' and 28.4% (n=107) reported they were 'very worried' about their safety at work.

CONCLUSION: WPV and safety fears were found to be common among EMTs in India. Focused initiatives to counter WPV in countries developing prehospital care systems are necessary to build a healthy and sustainable prehospital healthcare workforce.

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 2044-6055 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-033404 ID - ref1 ER -