Global meta-analysis of physicians' experiences of workplace sexual harassment by patients (8 September 2024)

Summary

The World Health Organization (WHO) recognises violence and sexual harassment as common occupational hazards affecting people who work in healthcare, and WHO encourages occupational health practitioners to implement preventive measures. While previous reviews exposed the scale of violence from patients and sexual harassment of nurses or combined groups of health workers by patients, the global scale of patient-to-physician sexual harassment specifically is not yet known.

This global meta-analysis found that a pooled prevalence of 45.13% of 18 803 physicians from several specialities (e.g. internal medicine and surgery) have ever experienced it. Hospitals should implement protective measures such as panic alarms for night shifts and isolated wards.