MEDICAL EXPRESS – According to new research from Boston Medical Center and Stanford University School of Medicine, almost a quarter of physicians who responded to a survey at Stanford Medicine experienced workplace mistreatment, with patients and visitors being the most common source.
The research, published in JAMA Network Open, found mistreatment was common among all physicians, but there were disparities in mistreatment by gender and race.
Women were twice more likely to report mistreatment than men. This study also showed statistically significant differences in mistreatment by race and suggests that more research is needed in this area.
Mistreatment was associated with higher levels of occupational distress among physicians, while the perception that protective workplace systems were in place was associated with lower levels of occupational distress.
The findings call on health care organizations to recognize the urgent need to put systems in place to reduce the occurrence of mistreatment.
The survey was administered to 1,505 physicians on the clinical faculty at Stanford University School of Medicine in September and October of 2020 to assess the frequency and sources of mistreatment among physicians and the associations between mistreatment, occupational well-being, and perceptions of protective workplace systems.
The results of the survey showed that 23.4% of physicians had experienced mistreatment in the last year.
This is the first study to explore the association between the perception of protective workplace systems and occupational well-being for physicians.
Having systems in place that protect physicians from mistreatment was associated with increased occupational well-being, both for those who experienced mistreatment and those who did not.
A strong association was found between mistreatment and decreased occupational well-being, including increased burnout, reduced professional fulfillment, and a higher reported intent to leave the organization … READ MORE.
