Almost half of doctors worldwide have been sexually harassed by their patients, a new global study published in the "Internal Medicine Journal" revealed.
Around the world, 45% of doctors have faced various sexual assaults and harassment. More than half, 52.2% of doctors (girls and women) have experienced sexual harassment and 34.4% of doctors (boys and men) have faced the same situation.
Doctors suffer from different typologies of sexual harassment, including unwanted sexual attention, jokes of a sexual nature, invitations to meetings, touching in inappropriate places, letters and messages with romantic and sexual content. Also, they have testified that they have faced situations where patients show them their genitals, show them that they are excited, and demand unnecessary examinations and tests.
The results were obtained from 22 previously published papers on this topic, in different parts of the world. They were analyzed by Dr. Caroline Kamau-Mitchell at Birkbeck College, which is part of the University of London.
Kamau-Mitchell said the high rates of sexual harassment should prompt hospitals, clinics and other health care providers to take more effective measures and actions to protect doctors against such attacks and harassment.
"I recommend that hospitals and clinics take these results seriously and provide doctors working in isolated wards, on night shifts or alone, with camera protection and panic alarms," ??she said.
According to the "Royal College of Physicians" (RCP), these results are truly alarming. The Royal College endorsed the researchers' call and said doctors need protection from harassment from patients, especially when working alone.
Dr Hilary Williams, consultant medical oncologist and RCP vice-chair for Wales, said:
“Hospitals at night can be quiet and dark with long corridors and unfortunately the buildings can have limited security. Too often, night staff are forced to park far away, in unlit corners that do not provide security."
“The right security measures, such as panic alarms and cameras, can provide vital protection for doctors, especially those working alone or in isolated environments. But we must be sure that such measures will not interfere with patients' privacy," she added.
Sexual harassment by patients has caused doctors to feel physically unsafe at work and, in some cases, to lock their office doors when they are alone, the authors added. Some had installed CCTV (cameras), or taken other security measures in their home.
The results say: “Comparing different regions, the percentage of male and female doctors who had experienced sexual harassment from patients was highest in the United States. The other countries are: United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Israel, Germany and Malaysia".
According to Williams, repeated harassment of a sexual nature can be one of the reasons why doctors decide to leave the work in the health service, so it is necessary to find ways for doctors to report such incidents and how to protect themselves from them.
"There are many clear reasons why staff continue to leave the health service, including not only the overwhelming demands they are struggling with, but the damaging, frequent and serious assaults many doctors face are directly contributing to the field, she said.
“Like many forms of harassment, reporting channels are weak. Quite rightly there are very clear processes for patients to report harassment, but there is far less support for doctors to raise concerns about patient and family behaviour. "Unfortunately, staff are now so busy that it's often easier to hang on and be patient so that care can be provided quickly for the next patient," Kamau-Mitchell said.
