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Background Workplace violence (WPV) against nurses continues to be a challenge within healthcare systems worldwide. Quantifying the burden of WPV in emergency departments will inform the design of appropriate interventions. This study aimed to determine the prevalence, pattern and factors associated with WPV among emergency nurses working in Saudi Arabia. Methods A multicenter descriptive online survey was conducted using a standardized self-administered questionnaire. Emergency nurses working in public hospitals in the country were invited to participate. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression. Results The study recruited 849 emergency nurses, most (73.7%) had experienced WPV in the past two years; 47.4% experienced physical violence and 94.3% experienced non-physical violence. Most exposures to WPV occurred during the afternoon shifts (70.8%), and mainly perpetrated by family members or relatives of the patients (88.3%). Conclusion WPV encountered by emergency nurses in Saudi Arabia is alarmingly high, and underreported by the affected nurses. Increased workload, inadequate staffing levels, poorly enforced visitor policy, unmet expectations, and a lack of clarity in reporting were the most frequent causes of WPV. There is a need to reassess the current occupational safety measures in the emergency departments in the country.

BACKGROUND: Injury is an escalating public health problem, representing about 9% of global mortality, which disproportionately impacts lower- and middle-income countries. There are approximately 12,000 annual fatalities from road traffic injuries in Egypt, but little information about delays in seeking emergent care is available. OBJECTIVES: To measure the time interval between sustaining an injury and presentation to the emergency department of Ain Shams University Surgery Hospital and to identify possible causes of these delays. METHODS: We conducted a cross sectional, facilitated survey of a convenience sample of trauma patients presenting to the emergency department of Ain Shams University Surgery Hospital from 1 February to 31 May 2014. Data obtained included: demographic information, trauma incident details and injury assessment. RESULTS: The average reported transport time for patients from injury to hospital arrival was 3.8 hours, while the mean ambulance response time was 45 minutes. Referral from other hospitals was revealed to be a significant cause of delay (P=0.004), while ignorance of the local ambulance phone number couldn’t be confirmed as a cause (P=0.2). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that trauma patients at our hospital experience more than three hours of delay until they reach the ED. It also identified the possible causes accounting for that delay. However, additional nationwide research is needed to establish the clear causation or association of these causes with the delay intervals.

BACKGROUND The migration of physicians from the developing to the developed world remains a controversial topic with many proposed negative effects. Although Egypt remains a major supplier of international medical graduates, no exploration of the root causes of the issue or the required policy changes was attempted before. METHODS An online questionnaire was used to survey 940 Egyptian undergraduates enrolled at the Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University exploring their intentions of mobility following graduation and the factors impacting such intentions. RESULTS Of the responding students, 85.7% (n=806) intended to leave the country for training following graduation, mostly seeking better research opportunities (mean 4.74) and working conditions (mean 4.64). Of those, 81.8% (659) reported their plan to eventually return after training, although at different intervals, principally driven by the feeling of belonging and desire to serve their country (mean 4.01). CONCLUSIONS Due attention should be given to such an unnoticed country's issue with the adoption of evidence-based policy changes to minimize its negative effects. The affinity of the students to eventually return (driven by the desire to serve the country) could prove a valuable point to consider in policy-making.