The study on risk factors for severity of physical violence against the medical staff in China

Background: To analyse the risk factors for severity of physical violence inflicted upon the medical staff in China. Methods: Keywords related to physical violence against medical staff from January 2000 to December 2015 were extracted through on-line news, and risk factors for severity of physical violence against the medical staff in China were analysed. Results: In location type, the risk for severity of physical violence was the highest in the places outside the hospital, followed by the office area, outpatient area and inpatient area. When there was a medical behavior between medical staff and attacker, the risk for severity of physical violence was higher. The ICU, emergency and outpatient clinics, other departments, internal medicine and surgery departments were the departments where the risk for severity of physical violence increased successively. Medical staff-, patient-, and illness-related factors increasingly contributed to severity of physical violence successively. Conclusions: Risk factors for the severity of physical violence against medical staff were location where physical violence occurs, department where medical staff work, and causes underlying physical violence incidents. The study suggests that physical violence is serious in Chinese healthcare settings. Effective measures should be taken to prevent and reduce injuries of physical violence against medical staff