Nearly 1,000 doctors victims of violence in 2014

Physician safety is not improving! The number of incident reports recorded in 2014 within the framework of the Observatory for the Safety of Physicians remains “particularly high”, according to the Order of Physicians. 901 files were in fact recorded between January 1 and December 31, 2014. A figure 27% higher than the annual average of this Observatory (707), set up in 2003.

Verbal assaults and threats on the decline

In the vast majority of cases (90%, stable), the victim of the incident is the doctor himself. However, the proportion of employees who have personally experienced situations of violence is not negligible (17% of incident reports), despite a slight decline compared to 2013.
The patient is the cause of the incident in more than one in two cases (52%, -1 point in one year).
Finally, still very much in the majority, the proportion of files noting “attacks on persons” has nevertheless declined compared to 2013 (73%, -5 points). Almost a third of the reports (32%, -2 points) correspond to damage to property.
It is the verbal attacks and threats which are less numerous than before, going from 69% in 2013 to 65% in 2014 (-4 points). On the other hand, physical attacks did not register any decrease, they still represent 11% of the total of incident reports (unchanged).

To testify to this violence, we contacted Dr Annaïg Eccher, general practitioner. Before Elancourt in the Yvelines, she practiced for 13 and a half years in Trappes (78), in the Parisian suburbs. She tells us about this experience.

Listen to Dr Annaïg Eccher, general practitioner in Elancourt (78): “ I practiced for 13 years in Trappes, and I stopped practicing there in 2005 following several physical assaults and violence against my doctor’s office. Once a patient… “

The North remains the most affected department

The list of departments in which the most incidents are recorded also remains, from one year to the next, broadly similar. The North remains by far the department from which the most declarations emanate (63 files for the year 2014). It is followed by Bouches-du-Rhône (41 files), Isère (38), Seine-Saint-Denis (35) and Loire (32).
Then come the Rhône (32 declarations), the Var (29) and the Val-d’Oise (also 29). Paris (27 files) and Calvados (23) complete the list of the ten departments where the most declarations were recorded. “We see in this list a strong over-representation of departments with a rather popular character and / or Ile-de-France, even if for the latter there has been a significant drop this year in the number of incident reports”, specifies the Order.

GPs most affected

General practitioners are, since 2003, the most numerous to fill in incident reports. This trend is once again confirmed this year: in 2014 they represented 61% of people reporting such acts, a score up 3 points compared to the previous year, 5 points for two years. They are therefore largely over-represented compared to the real proportion of general practitioners in France (46%). Conversely, 39% of incidents concern doctors practicing another specialty (compared to 42% in 2013), although they constitute 54% of the medical population.
Among the specialists (other than general practitioners) the most exposed, as every year, we find ophthalmologists (64 files, which corresponds to 7% of the total), no doubt in part because of the long waiting times to obtain an appointment. you. Dermatologists (4%), gynecologists / obstetricians (3%), and psychiatrists are also among the most affected practitioners.

Over-represented women

In addition, women are more victims of this violence against doctors. They were at the origin of 47% of the records identified while they represent (in 2014) 44% of the profession. Finally, it is interesting to note that, like the previous year, the large majority of doctors who are victims of violence have a secretariat (58%). This rate has changed very little since the establishment of the Observatory. Having a secretariat therefore does not appear to be a “protection” against potential violence.