A national survey of general practitioners' experiences of patient-initiated aggression in Australia

Abstract

Objective: To determine the prevalence of patient-initiated aggression toward general practitioners in Australia. Design, setting and participants: A cross-sectional national survey, conducted during February - May 2010, of 3090 GPs in 19 Divisions of General Practice, purposively sampled to represent urban, rural and remote areas. Main outcome measure: Proportion of GPs experiencing patient-initiated aggression. Results: Eight-hundred and four GPs returned completed surveys (response rate, 26.3%). In the previous 12 months, 58% of GPs had experienced verbal abuse and 18% had experienced property damage or theft. Very few GPs had experienced physical abuse (6%), stalking (4%), sexual harassm..