Article Text

Download PDFPDF
A pilot study of bullying and harassment among medical professionals in Pakistan, focussing on psychiatry: need for a medical ombudsman
  1. A A M Gadit1,
  2. G Mugford2
  1. 1
    Department of Psychiatry, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada
  2. 2
    Department of Pharmacy, Medicine and Psychiatry, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada
  1. Dr A A M Gadit, Department of Psychiatry, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St John’s, Newfoundland A1B 3V6, Canada; amin.muhammad{at}med.mun.ca

Abstract

Background: The magnitude of bullying and harassment among psychiatrists is reportedly high, yet no peer-review published studies addressing this issue could be found. Therefore, it was decided to conduct a pilot study to assess the degree of the problem, the types of bullying/harassment and to provide some insights into the situation.

Methods and Principal Findings: Following multiple focus group meetings, a yes/no response type questionnaire was developed to assess the degree and type of bullying and harassment experienced by psychiatrists. Over a 3-month period the questionnaire was administered to a random sample of 60 psychiatrists. 57 out of the 60 psychiatrists reported harassment and bullying. Frequencies of the following response variables are presented in descending order: rumours 40% (n  =  24); defamation 20% (n  =  12); passing remarks 20% (n  =  12); false accusations 15% (n  =  9); threats 13.3% (n  =  8); verbal abuse 13.3% (n  =  8); unjustified complaints 13.3% (n  =  8); promotion blocked 13.3% (n  =  8); humiliation 13% (n  =  8); bad reference given 10% (n  =  6); credentials questioned 8.3% (n  =  5); physical attacks 5% (n  =  3); termination 5% (n  =  3); derogatory remarks 1.7% (n  =  1) and 1.7% (n  =  1) were subjected to personal work. As a result of being subjected to harassment, 66.7% of the psychiatrists did not take any action, whereas 33.3% confronted the person(s) they believed responsible. Asked whether the bullying and harassment caused distress, 18.3% of the psychiatrists did not report any effect, 30% reported mild distress, 40% moderate distress and severe distress was reported by 11.7%.

Conclusions: It was concluded that the magnitude of bullying and harassment among psychiatrists may be quite high, as evidenced by this pilot study. There is a need for extensive systematic studies on this subject and to establish strategies to prevent and address this issue at a national and regulatory level.

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

Footnotes

  • Competing interests: None declared.