Prevalence of Workplace Bullying Among Healthcare Professionals in Tertiary Care Hospitals in Pakistan. Issue 1 (March 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kumari, Usha; Muneer, Muhammad Z.; Murtaza, Muhammad A.; Abbas, Fakhar; Sahito, Abdul M.; Hassan, Zair; Manjunath, Keerthana
• Is Part Of: Evaluation & the health professions. Volume 46:Issue 1(2023)
• Page Start: 54
• Page End: 56
• Publication Date: 2023-03
• Subjects: workplace bullying -- healthcare professionals -- hospital -- Pakistan; Medical care -- Evaluation -- Periodicals; Medicine -- Ability testing -- Periodicals; 362.105
• DOI: 10.1177/01632787221098119
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0163-2787

Abstract

Workplace bullying (WPB) in the healthcare system (HCS), whether perpetrated by healthcare professionals (HCPs) or patients, is a serious problem. The goal of this research study was to find out how common WPB is among HCPs. We conducted a questionnaire-based cross-sectional study in the three public tertiary care hospitals of Karachi, Pakistan from May to October 2020. A validated Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised (NAQ-R) was used to measure WPB prevalence. The final sample size was 449, out of which 72.4% were females and 27.6% were males. The majority of respondents were house officers or 1st-year trainees who had completed their MBBS ( n = 252, 56.1%). Residents ( n = 197, 43.9%) who were pursuing specialty training made up the remainder of the respondents. As per NAQ-R cut-offs, the prevalence of bullied, being bullied, and not bullied was 41, 29, and 30%, respectively. WPB prevalence was higher in males (53%) than females (38%), whereas it occurred more often in residents (48%) than house officers (36%). We found similar findings while using the self-reported definition for WPB. Based on our findings, we conclude that WPB is pervasive among HCPs, particularly for males and residents in tertiary care hospitals in Pakistan.