Workplace violence ‘extremely high’ in radiologic sciences

More than 60% of diagnostic radiology and radiation therapy staff experience workplace violence, according to a study published January 9 in Radiography. Risk factors for workplace violence include intoxicated patients, staff stress, long patient waiting times, overcrowded environments, and inadequate staff and security measures, wrote lead author Krushi Shah, of Curtin University in Perth, Australia. The authors called for implementing strategies to reduce risk. “The most common coping strategy [we found in our review] was doing nothing, which is concerning,” they noted. Workplace violence is a significant issue in healthcare, according to World Health Organization (WHO). Yet no systematic review has been published on the issue in medical radiation science, the authors noted. To address this knowledge gap, the authors reviewed medical literature to identify articles on the issue over the last 10 years. They included 12 relevant articles in their research, with most investigating the prevalence of workplace violence using surveys. Responses from workers covered their whole career or experiences from six months to one year. One-quarter of the studies focused on the issue in the U.S. and two-thirds were published from 2019, which indicates a recent increase in attention to the issue, the authors noted. Also, two-thirds of the studies focused on staff in diagnostic radiography, with the rest covering radiation therapy, medical sonography, and nuclear medicine. Accordin...
Source: AuntMinnie.com Headlines - Category: Radiology Authors: Tags: Practice Management Radiologic Technologist Imaging Leaders Source Type: news