This survey attempts to determine the proportion of hospital staff who experience violence from patients at the National Center for Mental Health, a government psychiatric center in the Philippines. It also aims to describe the nature and manner of violence, and the reactions of the staff to patient violence. Of 104 hospital staff included in the study, 64.4 percent experienced being assaulted by patients in 1998. Majority experienced physical and verbal assault either singly or in combination, on one or more occasions. The most common experience from patients was verbal assault such as shouting invectives or curses. Most of the assault incidents occurred in the morning. Staff characteristics such as gender, position, and length of hospital service were associated with having been assaulted. Majority of the hospital staff assaulted by the patients reportedly remained calm and kept their composure during the incident.
Human ; Male ; Female ; VIOLENCE ; MEDICAL STAFF