Violencia laboral hacia los profesionales sanitarios en España

Resumen

La agresión a los profesionales sanitarios es un fenómeno en España. Se han realizado diversos estudios para conocer el alcance y los factores de riesgo, pero se desconoce su incidencia, agentes y factores implicados. El objetivo de este trabajo es conocer el alcance de la agresión hacia los profesionales mediante una revisión de la literatura científica.

Se realizó una búsqueda exhaustiva en MEDLINE, The Cochrane Library, EMBASE, PSYCINFO, CINAHL, Google Scholar y en portales institucionales que tratan aspectos de medicina del trabajo y salud laboral. Se incluyeron los estudios publicados desde 1990 que abordaran la violencia laboral a los profesionales sanitarios.

Dieciséis estudios cumplieron los criterios de inclusión. La lengua española (75%) y los diseños descriptivos con instrumentos ad hoc (81,25%) son las variables más estudiadas; las características del agresor, factores de predisposición y organizacionales las que menos.

Si bien la investigación realizada dificulta la comparación de datos por la variabilidad metodológica, la violencia laboral hacia los profesionales sanitarios es un fenómeno existente.

Abstract

Aggression towards health professionals is a phenomenon in Spain. Several studies were prepared to determine the scope and risk factors but the incidence, actors and factors involved in aggression towards healthcare professionals is unknown. The aim of this manuscript is to know the extent of aggression towards Spanish professionals.

A comprehensive search of MEDLINE, The Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and CINAHL PSYCINFO and institutional websites of occupational medicine and occupational health was performed. Studies published from 1990 to present that discussed workplace violence in health professionals were included. Variables were the number of violent incidents, language of publication, design, resources and services studied, type of professional, territory, instruments, characteristics of the perpetrator, types and causes of aggression. We classified and analyzed this information.

Sixteen studies met the inclusion criteria. The Spanish language (75%) and descriptive designs with ad hoc (81.25%) instruments are the most studied variables; offender characteristics, predisposition and organizational factors were the least studied variables. Although the investigation makes it difficult to compare data due to methodological variability, workplace violence to health professionals is an existing phenomenon.