The Impact of news of violence in health on physicians’ work efficiency and job satisfaction
Objective: Violence against healthcare workers is a serious public health issue that is on the rise worldwide and has detrimental effects on individuals, institutions, and society in many different ways. In recent years, media coverage of violence in healthcare has increased. The purpose of this study is to investigate how much press coverage of violence in healthcare in conventional and digital media affects doctors’ job satisfaction and productivity.
Methods: This study was designed as a cross-sectional study. In addition to a questionnaire including items regarding participants’ sociodemographic characteristics, experiences of violence in healthcare settings, and their personal opinions about the impact of media reports on violence in healthcare, the Work Productivity Scale and the Minnesota Job Satisfaction Scale were administered. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: The study was conducted with 324 physicians actively working at Başakşehir Çam and Sakura City Hospital. Of the participants, 68.8% (n=223) reported being exposed to at least one type of violence during their professional careers. The most common type of violence experienced was verbal violence, with a rate of 66% (n=213). It was determined that 43.2% (n=140) of the participants had been exposed to violence more than once, and 66.0% believed that media reports on violence in healthcare encourage violent behavior.
Additionally, 72.2% (n=234) stated that news about violence in healthcare affected their motivation to go to work, while 61.7% (n=200) reported that such news affected their physical and psychological health. It was found that job satisfaction levels were significantly lower among participants who stated that news about violence in healthcare affected their physical and psychological health and sleep patterns (p=0.002).
Conclusion: It has been shown that while news of violence has a detrimental impact on physicians’ job happiness, it has no negative effect on their productivity. This result can be explained by the fact that doctors have come to accept and normalize news reports about violence against medical personnel. Maintaining physicians’ well-being and ensuring that the media present news about violence in a responsible manner are of critical importance.
Key Words: workplace violence, physicians, social media, work performance, job satisfaction
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