Chris Luke: If we can't treat the causes of patient aggression, we'll have no medical staff left

The abuse of healthcare staff has been tolerated by the ‘powers-that-be’, writes Dr Chris Luke

The sad truth is that, after a while, many staff develop a siege mentality, constantly anticipating the next verbal or physical threat, grimly ploughing on while doing as little as possible to further enrage patients or their companions, and retreating periodically to the staff room to shed a few tears, and plan their escape. File picture: Stockbyte

When I think back to my medical student days, one subject that was noticeably left out of the curriculum was the aggression that many doctors were likely to experience in their workplace. And the issue is still glaringly absent in today’s modern medical training. 

This may reflect a detachment from frontline realities on the part of those in charge of the syllabus and I’m not convinced that the ‘great and the good’ (academic, political or managerial) have yet grasped the scale of violence faced by healthcare professionals of every sort in our hospitals and community care facilities.