Awareness and fear of violence among medical and social work students

Abstract

Background: As violence escalates in US society, so does its presence as an issue in the lives of patients and as a cause of presenting problems. This study compared the training of medical and social work students in how to deal with violence and personal experience with workplace violence.

Methods: One hundred medical students and 100 social work students in the same state university system were surveyed about their awareness, experience, and fear of patient violence; their classroom training about violence in the lives of patients; and training in management of patient violence toward professionals.

Results: Forty-six medical students and 78 social work students responded. Medical students were found to experience more violence than social work students (80% versus 44% were aware of violence in the workplace; 9% versus 6% had been physically assaulted). However, social work students had received more training than medical students about ways to manage patient violence (31% versus 23% trained in verbal de-escalation of violence).

Conclusions: Violence education should be developed with focus on the prevention of work-related violence for both professional groups.