Breaching the Bridge: An Investigation into Doctor-Patient Miscommunication as a Significant Factor in the Violence against Healthcare Workers in Palestine

Perspectives of Palestinian Healthcare Workers on Factors Affecting the Families' Acceptance of News of Death: A Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction In a healthcare setting, communication is essential for every aspect of care. The ability to break bad news to patients and families is one of the most crucial talents in a medical professional's communication toolkit. This study aims to investigate the factors affecting the family's acceptance of death news in Palestinian medical facilities. Methods A survey was constructed and distributed to participants through Palestinian medical social media groups. Palestinian medical health professionals who had reported at least one death (N=136) were included. Associations and correlations were calculated. P-values of < 0.05 were considered significant. Results We found that death is more likely to be accepted by the family if it's reported by an experienced staff member (p-value= 0.031) or a member who was involved in the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) of the deceased person (Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 19.335, p-value = 0.046). The medical ward staff is also more likely to achieve family acceptance (AOR = 6.857, p-value= 0.020). However, no evidence was found to support the claim that adhering to the SPIKES model increases the likelihood of family acceptance of death news (p-value= 0.102). Death of young people and unexpected death are less likely to be accepted (p-value < 0.05). Conclusion Families are less likely to accept unexpected death or the death of young members. Thus, reporting such deaths (mostly in the emergency department) should be done with greater care. We suggest letting experienced staff members or those who were involved in CPR report the death news in such situations.

More exposure to medical injury news, better doctor-patient communication, but less doctors' professional identity: A moderated chain mediation model

Objectives

In recent years, news of medical malignant injury events has become common in China. However, it is unclear how exposure to this news affects medical staff.

Methods

The present study collected data from a sample of 311 medical staff in China. It explored the effect of exposure to such news on medical staff's communication and willingness to let their children be doctors, which was an attitude that reflects their professional identity well. In addition, this study also examined the mediating roles of outgroup attribution and anxiety, and the moderating role of social support.

Results

The results showed that exposure to news of medical injury could positively and directly predict the quality of doctor-patient communication, but negatively and indirectly predict medical staff's willingness to let their children become doctors. These effects existed through the mediating role of anxiety and the chain mediating role of both outgroup attribution and anxiety. In addition, social support could mitigate the negative correlation between news exposure and outgroup attribution.

Conclusions

These results suggest that news of medical malignant injury events may incentivize medical staff to improve the quality of communication in the short term, but it is not conducive to medical staff's long-term mental health. That is, exposure to news of medical injury is likely to lead to a negative influence on their professional identity, although social support can alleviate this negative influence.

The impact of violence on healthcare workers' mental health in conflict based settings amidst COVID-19 pandemic, and potential interventions: A narrative review

Healthcare workers (HCWs) have faced an increased amount of mental health struggles amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. However, those in conflict-based settings with fragile healthcare systems meet additional challenges. This study reviews violence, conflict and mental health among HCWs in five countries: Syria, Palestine, Yemen, Afghanistan and Lebanon. Our study reports that HCWs are targeted by violence, bombings, mistreatment and different forms of abuse, including verbal and physical. With the additional burdens of the pandemic including prolonged working hours, limited resources and insufficient humanitarian aid, the healthcare workers fall victim to increased levels of burnout and mental illnesses. The situation leads to dire consequences on their personal lives and professional development, compelling them to quit their job or country all together. Although healthcare workers remain resilient in these conflict-based settings, immediate interventions are required to prevent violence against them and cater to their rapidly declining mental health.

How to Engage Health Care Workers in the Evaluation of Hospitals: Development and Validation of BSC-HCW1-A Cross-Sectional Study

Organizations worldwide utilize the balanced scorecard (BSC) for their performance evaluation (PE). This research aims to provide a tool that engages health care workers (HCWs) in BSC implementation (BSC-HCW1). Additionally, it seeks to translate and validate it at Palestinian hospitals. In a cross-sectional study, 454 questionnaires were retrieved from 14 hospitals. The composite reliability (CR), interitem correlation (IIC), and corrected item total correlation (CITC) were evaluated. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used. In both EFA and CFA, the scale demonstrated a good level of model fit. All the items had loadings greater than 0.50. All factors passed the discriminant validity. Although certain factors' convergent validity was less than 0.50, their CR, IIC, and CITC were adequate. The final best fit model had nine factors and 28 items in CFA. The BSC-HCW1 is the first self-administered questionnaire to engage HCWs in assessing the BSC dimensions following all applicable rules and regulations. The findings revealed that this instrument's psychometric characteristics were adequate. Therefore, the BSC-HCW1 can be utilized to evaluate BSC perspectives and dimensions. It will help managers highlight which BSC dimension predicts HCW satisfaction and loyalty and examine differences depending on HCWs' and hospital characteristics.

Patient and visitor aggression de-escalation training for nurses in a teaching hospital in Cairo, Egypt

BACKGROUND

Workplace violence (WPV) has been recognized as a major occupational hazard worldwide. Healthcare professions are particularly at a higher risk of WPV. Patients and their relatives are commonly the most common perpetrators for WPV against physicians. Trainings on the universal precautions of violence, how to effectively anticipate, recognize and manage potentially violent situation is recommended by OSHA as a part of a written, effective, comprehensive, and interactive WPV prevention program.

OBJECTIVE

To implement and evaluate the effectiveness of a training session delivered to nurses. The training session aimed to increase nurses' ability to identify potentially violent situations and to effectively manage these situations in a teaching hospital in Egypt.

METHODOLOGY

A total of 99 nurses attended the training sessions. Confidence in coping with aggressive patient scale, along with nurses' attitudes toward WPV, were used to assess the effectiveness of the training sessions.

RESULTS

Nurses' perceived confidence to deal with aggression increased after attending the training sessions. Nurses' attitudes toward WPV positively changed after attending the training session.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Increasing awareness of the problem among healthcare professions as well as the public is warranted. Violence prevention program with a zero-tolerance policy is warranted.