PERCEPTION OF VIOLENCE BY PATIENTS HOSPITALIZED IN THE MEDICINE AND SURGERY SERVICES OF A PUBLIC HOSPITAL

Abstract

This is a descriptive, comparative and co-relational study. Its general objective consisted in finding out about hospitalized
patients’ perception of violence and its related variables in the medicine and surgery wards of a public hospital. The study is based on Chapell and Di Martino’s Interactive Model of work-related violence applied to the hospital environment. The sample was made up of 174 patients; 70 from the medicine ward and 104 from the surgery service. Some of the findings were the following: 35.7% of the patients in the medicine service, and 42.3% of the patients in the surgery ward perceived violence while receiving hospital care. This perception of violence corresponds to younger patients who have a higher educational level. They rate the care received as deficient. Violent behavior was most frequently perceived during night shifts. “Lack of care” and “impersonal treatment” from hospital personnel, were the attitudes most frequently perceived by these patients. They relate excessive work stress imposed on the personnel of the health care system as the main factor accounting for violent behavior.