rampant violence taking toll on emergency room doctors

two-thirds of physicians report they have been assaulted once in the past year, while one-third say they have been subjected to multiple assaults.

by dave yasvinski

published sep 26, 2022

3 minute read

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3 minute read

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the pandemic made emergency rooms more violent

a poll of 2,712 emergency room doctors found that violence is on the rise in u.s.emergency rooms. getty

the pandemic didn’t just make the workplace more demanding for doctors — it also made it more violent. according to a new poll, conducted by the american college of emergency physicians (acep) and marketing general incorporated (mgi), more than 80 per cent of doctors believe the rate of violence in emergency rooms has increased, with almost half convinced it has increased greatly.

“violence in the emergency department continues to threaten and harm emergency physicians and patients,” said chris kang, president-elect of acep. “over the past five years, emergency physicians have witnessed and experienced a steady increase in assaults made worse by the pandemic. this report underscores how attacks on emergency physicians, care teams and staff are rampant and must be addressed.”

the poll of 2,712 emergency room doctors, which follows up on a similar effort in 2018, revealed that the frequency of violence is on the rise in emergency rooms in the u.s., a finding highlighted by the two-thirds of physicians who report they have been assaulted once in the past year and the one-third who say they have been subjected to multiple assaults.

“emergency physicians should not have to compromise their duty to care for patients because of their injuries and worries about their personal safety,” kang said. “in addition to physical risks, the persistent threat of violence detracts from patient care and contributes significantly to emergency physicians’ mental health challenges and burnout.”

according to the vast majority of respondents, this rising violence negatively impacts the delivery of care and often results in patients leaving the emergency room without being seen by a doctor. with almost 90 per cent of emergency room physicians reporting a decrease in productivity due to violence and 85 per cent saying they experienced emotional trauma and a subsequent increase in anxiety, this behaviour only serves to worsen the mental health and high burnout rate among physicians.

most doctors (66 per cent) point to the pandemic as the main reason for the violence, with 70 per cent blaming these events on the erosion of trust between patients and care providers in the covid era.

while the virus has no doubt made matters worse, research just prior to the pandemic found that around 25 per cent of doctors were already being subjected to abuse on social media based on their race, religion or medical advice. this rate of hostility, which researchers said likely underestimates the scope of the issue, included coordinated harassment and threats at work, waves of negative reviews and having personal information exposed publicly. the more troubling cases included threats of death and sexual assault. women doctors bore the brunt of these attacks, with one in six reporting online sexual harassment.

the team behind the current study says things will only get worse if better safeguards are not put in place. “as emergency departments are no longer respected as safe zones, inadequate protections for emergency medical professionals and staff and patients combined with insufficient accountability from hospitals, communities and assailants can only encourage violence to continue,” kang said.

“we must do more to make sure that physicians and staff can perform their duties without needing to worry about threats to their wellbeing or safety.”

dave yasvinski is a writer with healthing.ca

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