Violence against healthcare workers in Bosnia and Herzegovina is extremely widespread and represents a serious problem for the healthcare system – shows the research “Prevalence and impact of workplace violence against healthcare workers in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, conducted by nephrologist M.Sc. Dr. Vedad Herenda, Elvedina Žiga and Dženana Hrlović.
As Herenda told Fena news agency, as many as 93.4 percent of healthcare workers in BiH have experienced some form of workplace violence during their careers, while 70.6 percent stated that they had been exposed to violence in the last 12 months. The most common perpetrators of violence, he says, are people from the patient’s environment – family members of patients and other accompanying persons.
“Workplace violence includes incidents in which workers are abused, threatened or physically attacked in circumstances related to their work, including commuting. Healthcare workers are particularly exposed to the risk of aggression due to their constant contact with patients, which accounts for as much as 75 percent of all reported cases of workplace violence,” says Herenda.
The scientific paper was published in the latest issue of the internationally peer-reviewed Croatian Medical Journal, and was conducted using a questionnaire from the World Health Organization, which included different profiles of healthcare workers.
The results show that verbal violence is the most widespread form of abuse, occurring two to ten times more often than physical violence, especially in primary healthcare. In BiH, the incidence of violence is higher than in most countries in Southeast Europe – higher than in Bulgaria and Serbia, but lower when it comes to physical violence. Similar rates have been recorded in Georgia, Ethiopia and Bangladesh, while rates of verbal violence in BiH are even higher than in Latin America.
Herenda points out that previous international studies have identified problems such as a lack of staff and long waiting lists for services as significant risk factors. In this study, the largest number of respondents also cited these factors as the main drivers of violence against healthcare workers.
As Herenda warned, the situation is particularly worrying in primary healthcare, where institutions often lack adequate security, unlike hospitals.
“Many healthcare workers have expressed concerns that violence will worsen in the future. A similar trend has been recorded in other countries, for example, in the UK the number of attacks on healthcare workers in primary care has doubled in the last five years,” said Herenda.
Although the findings are worrying, he points out that the institutional response to violence in BiH remains weak. Many healthcare workers do not report incidents due to distrust in the system, fear of reprisals or lack of clear procedures. Most of those who reported violence were dissatisfied with the way their cases were resolved.
“Bosnia and Herzegovina does not have a specific law that would protect healthcare workers from violence. Existing labor and healthcare laws are imprecise and often not enforced, while the lack of stricter penalties further complicates the fight against this problem,” warned Dr. Herenda.
In his opinion, in addition to existing legal reforms, additional legal solutions are needed to criminalize violence against healthcare workers, as well as the introduction of visible security personnel and a zero-tolerance policy in healthcare institutions, which are key steps towards solving this problem.
“Violence against healthcare workers does not only affect individuals, but also directly threatens the quality of healthcare. The provision of services is difficult and becoming more and more expensive, which is felt throughout the system. If there is no timely response, the health system may be left without professional staff, especially in primary care, which would further reduce the availability of services to citizens,” concluded Dr. Herenda for Fena news agency.
