Physical violence in working environments: Viewpoints of EMT personnel in East Azerbaijan Province

Emergency medical technician (EMT) personnel encounter with their patients in stressful situations which may result in workplace violence (WPV) against them. There is no relevant study undertaken to investigate physical WPV against Iranian EMT personnel yet. Therefore, the present study was designed to determine the nature of physical WPV toward EMT personnel in East Azerbaijan Province (EAP). This descriptive study was undertaken in 2008, with a sample of 160 EMT personnel drawn from pre-hospital settings in EAP. They were selected by census sampling. Data were gathered through a posted questionnaire (with a response rate of 86.25%) consisting of participants’ social and personal characteristics, the prevalence of physical assaults and violence incidence’s relevant factors from their point of view. All statistics were computed using the SPSS software (version 13). Results showed that 37.7% of respondents experienced physical assault during the previous year. The most frequent response to physical WPV was “to invite the offender to calm down” (9/52%) since they considered it useless to follow up the case (34.1%). The study reveals the high frequency of violent events on EMT personnel in EAP, compare to other countries. To make the violence level against personnel down, public education and continuing education for EMT personnel is recommended.