One year cumulative incidence and risk factors associated with workplace violence within the ambulance service in a Swedish region : a prospective cohort study

OBJECTIVE: To measure the 1 year cumulative incidence of and analyse the risk factors associated with workplace violence directed towards the ambulance service in a Swedish region. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: The ambulance services in Örebro County Council (Sweden) contain approximately 300 000 inhabitants. PARTICIPANTS: All ambulance missions during the period of 12 months (n=28 640) were assessed. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome measure was workplace violence together with the associated risk factors. RESULTS: The 1 year cumulative incidence of workplace violence within the ambulance service was 0.7%. Non-physical violence was most common. There was an increased odds for violence when the patient was under the influence of alcohol or drugs or suffering from mental illness. There was an association between the dispatch categories intoxication, unconsciousness or mental health problems and workplace violence against ambulance personnel. The offenders were mostly men aged 18-29 and workplace violence was more likely to occur in public places. CONCLUSIONS: The 1 year cumulative incidence of workplace violence within the regional ambulance service was low in comparison to that of previous research. The overall regression model had low explanatory power, indicating that the phenomenon is complex and that additional variables need to be taken into account when trying to predict when workplace violence will occur. Additional research is needed to fully understand why workplace violence within the ambulance service occurs and how to mitigate such situations.
This research received funding from the research committee of the county council of Örebro and Allmänna Läkarfonden.