[Exposure to professional violence by young physicians in the hospital: MESSIAEN national study]

Hospital professional violence is defined as hostile and aggressive behavior exerted by health professionals on other health professionals. No quantitative study has been carried out to date on French hospital professional violence among young physicians, while recent qualitative studies have suggested a potential high frequency. The main objective was to determine the prevalence of exposure of young doctors to hospital violence. The secondary objective was to determine their characteristics and consequences as well as to determine if students and young physicians (resident and young MD) differed.

The study was a national cross-sectional observational epidemiological study that included 4th-year medical students and young physicians (MD for less than 2 years). Thirty-seven French faculties of medicine were contacted for email recruitment of participants. Social networks were used to increase the visibility of the study. The questionnaire was developed after exhaustive review of the international literature dealing with professional violence in hospitals, its characteristics and its consequences in terms of mental health, addiction, personal and professional life. The report of these events was also explored.

In total, 2003 participants have been included. More than nine out of ten participants were exposed to hospital violence at least once and nearly 42% to moral harassment as defined by the French law. This violence does not differ between the students and the residents/young MDs, suggesting that working time in the hospital does not seem to affect this risk. Nearly 80 % of interns and young MDs reported working more than the legal time. The perpetrators of violence include in almost all cases at least one man, often a senior doctor, but students reported the presence of at least one woman among the perpetrators in ¾ of cases. The victims are as often men as women. Compared to the undergraduate medical students, residents and young MDs more frequently reported poor outcomes on their mental health, addictive behavior, personal and professional lives. The majority of victims reported the event to a peer but fewer than 10% to the head of the department, a professor or an instance that could have acted. In almost all cases, participants reported the continuation of abusive behavior after the event. In total, 42% of students think that this is simple part of medical studies that they must endure.

These results suggest the need to develop specific information and prevention programs for professional hospital violence in France.