Violence against physicians.

OBJECTIVE

To ascertain the incidence of violence against internists.

SETTING

A county-operated tertiary care center in Nassau County, New York.

DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS

Questionnaires were distributed to 100 internal medicine residents and attending physicians. They were asked to report: whether they had ever been assaulted or battered either by patients or by relatives of patients; the point in their medical training at which such episodes had occurred; the nature and severity of the violent episodes; and the circumstances surrounding such episodes.

RESULTS

Questionnaires were returned by 63 physicians (response rate, 63%). Ten physicians (16% of the respondents) reported that they had been battered, three (5%) on multiple occasions. Twenty-six physicians (41%) reported that they had been assaulted, 15 (24%) on multiple occasions. The majority (54%) of violent episodes had been instigated either by intoxicated patients or by patients with psychiatric histories. In this small sample, no injury was reported.

CONCLUSIONS

Violence against medical residents and attending physicians exists and is most commonly associated with patients who are intoxicated or who have psychiatric histories.