Patients' opinion on violence against healthcare workers and their level of satisfaction in emergency department in Turkey: A cross-sectional study

Background: Violence, with an increasing rate of cases in the health care system which adversely affects the quality of provision of services, has become a social health issue that also has negative impacts both on healthcare workers and patients. This study was conducted to determine the opinion of patients, who had been admitted to the emergency department, towards violence against healthcare workers, and their level of satisfaction with health services. Methods: The study employed a cross-sectional design and was conducted with 348 patients who had received healthcare services in the adult emergency department in Turkey. The Emergency Department Patient Satisfaction Survey and An eight-item questionnaire prepared by the researchers consisting of the patient's characteristics and their statements on violence were used to collect the data. Results: Among the patients, 26.7% stated that they had been violent toward healthcare workers. It was determined that 91.4% of the cases were verbal and 8.6% were physical. Among the patients, 82.2% had not known about the legal sanctions for violence against healthcare workers. The low level of propensity for violence in patients who were satisfied with the emergency department service was statistically significant (p < 0.05). Conclusions: As a result of the study, it was found that one in four patients had been violent to healthcare workers, and the vast majority had a lack of information about legal sanctions. Policymakers should take deterrent measures to prevent the occurrence of violence and develop more critical sanctions.