RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 How the Medical Culture Contributes to Coworker-Perpetrated Harassment and Abuse of Family Physicians
JF The Annals of Family Medicine
JO Ann Fam Med
FD American Academy of Family Physicians
SP 111
OP 117
DO 10.1370/afm.1341
VO 10
IS 2
A1 Baukje Miedema
A1 Leslie MacIntyre
A1 Sue Tatemichi
A1 Anita Lambert-Lanning
A1 Francine Lemire
A1 Donna Manca
A1 Vivian Ramsden
YR 2012
UL http://www.annfammed.org/content/10/2/111.abstract
AB PURPOSE Harassment and abuse in the workplace of family physicians has been associated with higher levels of stress, increased consumption of alcohol, and higher risk for developing mental health problems. Few studies have examined issues contributing to abusive encounters in the workplace of family physicians. METHODS For the overall study we used a mixed methods design, which included a cross-sectional survey of a randomly selected sample of active family physicians from the database of the College of Family Physicians of Canada and telephone interviews with those who reported experiencing work related harassment and abuse in the last year. The data presented here arise from the qualitative interviews of the study, which were analyzed thematically. RESULTS The interview arm of the study included 23 female and 14 male participants. The major themes that emerged from the study were (1) modeling of abusive behaviors, (2) status hierarchy among various medical disciplines, (3) shortage of physicians, and (4) lack of transparent policies and follow-up procedures after abusive encounters. The results are discussed using the broken window theory. CONCLUSION Many family physicians experience harassing and abusive encounters during their training or in the workplace. The current medical culture appears to contribute to harassment and abuse in the workplace of family physicians in Canada. We described the components that intentionally or unintentionally facilitate abusive behavior in the medical culture.