More than half of the healthcare workers who participated in a survey feel that their workplace is "unsafe", particularly in state and central government medical colleges.
Led by experts from the Vardhman Mahavir Medical College (VMMC), Safdarjung Hospital and AIIMS, New Delhi, the study highlighted "significant gaps" in the security infrastructure within Indian healthcare settings.
The "Workplace Safety and Security in Indian Healthcare Settings: A Cross-Sectional Survey" published in a recent issue of the journal 'Epidemiology International' underscored the urgent need for improving the prevailing safety and security measures in healthcare settings.
The survey is a collaborative effort of Dr Kartik Chadhar and Dr Jugal Kishore from the VMMC and Safdarjung Hospital along with Dr Richa Mishra, Dr Semanti Das, Dr Indra Shekhar Prasad and Dr Prakalp Gupta from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi.
The cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1,566 healthcare workers from diverse medical institutions across India using a pre-tested, self-administered online questionnaire, which assessed various dimensions of workplace safety. Logistic regression was used to find differences among groups.
The survey participants consisted of 869 (55.5 per cent) females and 697 (44.5 per cent) males. About one-fourth (24.7 per cent) of healthcare workers were from Delhi and around half of the them were resident doctors (49.6 per cent), followed by undergraduate medical students, including interns (15.9 per cent).
Responses were also received from faculty members, medical officers, nursing staff, and other supporting staff.
The majority of the respondents worked in government-run medical colleges (71.5 per cent). Half of the respondents worked in non-surgical departments (49.2 per cent) and one-third worked in surgical departments (33.8 per cent).
Results revealed that more than half (58.2 per cent) of healthcare workers feel unsafe at the workplace and 78.4 per cent reported having been threatened on duty, Dr Jugal Kishore, the corresponding author of the study said.
Nearly half of the healthcare workers do not have a dedicated duty room while working for long hours or at night.