General practitioners experience patient-initiated aggression

January 01, 0001

General practitioners experience patient-initiated aggression

The aim of this cross-sectional national survey, conducted during February - May 2010, of 3090 GPs in 19 Divisions of General Practice, purposively sampled to represent urban, rural and remote areas was to determine the prevalence of patient-initiated aggression toward general practitioners in Australia.

Eight-hundred and four GPs returned completed surveys (response rate, 26.3%). In the previous 12 months, 58% of GPs had experienced verbal abuse and 18% had experienced property damage or theft. Very few GPs had experienced physical abuse (6%), stalking (4%), sexual harassment (6%) or sexual assault (0.1%). After controlling for other demographic variables, GPs with fewer years of experience or who worked full-time or in larger practices experienced significantly more verbal abuse than their counterparts, and GPs who worked full-time or in metropolitan areas experienced significantly more property damage or theft. Female GPs experienced significantly more sexual harassment than male GPs.

The researchers concluded: "This is the first national evidence of the prevalence of patient aggression toward GPs in Australia, which could inform the development of policies and guidelines that aim to reduce the prevalence of patient aggression toward GPs."

This is unlikely to be limited to Australia and it would be interesting to know figures internationally.


For the full abstract, click here.

MJA 194(11):605-608, 6 June 2011 © The Medical Journal of Australia 2011
A national survey of general practitioners’ experiences of patient-initiated aggression in Australia. Laura E Forrest, Pushpani M Herath, Ian S McRae and Rhian M Parker.

Category: HSR. Health Services Research Keywords: general practitioner, experience, patient, initiated, aggression, national survey, journal watch.
Synopsis edited by Dr Stephen Wilkinson, Melbourne, Australia. Posted on Global Family Doctor 17 June 2011

Pearls are an independent product of the Cochrane primary care group and are meant for educational use and not to guide clinical care.

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