Doctors and nurses are constantly being assaulted, how can hospitals be safe places?

The recent stabbing of a medical worker at Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital has once again sounded the alarm about the violence in the medical environment, which should be a safe haven for both patients and doctors.

Bach Mai Hospital conducts training to enhance hospital security - Photo: THE ANH

To propose solutions to enhance security in hospitals, on October 29, the Ministry of Health held a meeting to collect opinions on a draft decree regulating medical safety and security, aiming to perfect the legal framework and ensure safety for medical staff and patients.

Physical and mental assault of medical staff

The recent incident of a knife-wielding man attacking a patient’s family and nurses at Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital has outraged public opinion. Not only endangering the lives of medical staff and patients, the incident has also raised concerns about insecurity at medical facilities, where babies could also become victims.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, since the beginning of the year, there have been 6 cases of assault on medical staff recorded nationwide. Notably, most of them occurred in the emergency or intensive care unit, where doctors and nurses are racing every minute to save the lives of patients. Or even in the neonatal unit, when babies have just cried out at birth.

Not only do many health workers suffer physical violence, they are also insulted, cursed, and suffer severe mental trauma. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in the health care environment, up to 68% of abuse is mental and 32% is physical.

Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan said violence against medical staff is taking place in many localities, seriously affecting the psychology of medical staff and the quality of medical examination and treatment. "Many cases have not been handled promptly, or are not deterrent enough, causing medical staff to always feel insecure at work," he said.

Causes from many perspectives

Mr. Ha Anh Duc, Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management (Ministry of Health), frankly admitted that violence in hospitals comes from both subjective and objective causes.

Most of the incidents happen in the emergency and intensive care departments, where work pressure is extremely high and relatives of patients are always stressed because they worry about their loved ones.

Reality also shows that there is a "barrier" to communication between patients' relatives, patients and medical staff. Many unfortunate incidents occur when the victims' relatives think that their loved ones are not treated in time, or "they do not answer when asked, do not answer when called"..., from which normal communication becomes a "risk" of violence in the hospital.

Mr. Duc said that the medical industry receives about 200 million outpatient visits each year, with tens of thousands of patients per day at a central hospital. The high workload makes medical staff easily fall into a state of fatigue and stress. Meanwhile, patients' relatives are in a state of waiting, impatient and easily lead to frustration if not explained promptly.

However, he also believes that healthcare is a service-providing field, so healthcare workers need to be trained and coached in communication and behavioral skills to be able to explain and discuss with patients and their families appropriately, helping to minimize misunderstandings and unfortunate conflicts.

"However, in any circumstance, assaulting medical staff while they are performing their duties is unacceptable," Mr. Duc said.

Although medical facilities regularly train medical staff in communication and behavioral skills, due to work pressure and large number of patients, inappropriate behavior is inevitable.

For this reason, an expert from the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management believes that there needs to be systematic solutions to address this situation. In addition to enhancing security, hospitals need to standardize communication processes and provide information to patients, especially in the emergency and resuscitation areas.

"Medical staff can periodically report every 2-4 hours about the patient's condition in the emergency department, possibly through a "form" about the condition and treatment direction, thereby significantly reducing conflicts and misunderstandings. This way, relatives can grasp the health status of their loved ones, and doctors and nurses can also focus on treatment," he suggested.

Filling the legal gap in hospital security

After the unfortunate incidents, Deputy Minister Tran Van Thuan said that the problem does not stop at arranging more security guards or surveillance cameras, but needs to perfect the legal framework to protect medical practitioners.

"Medical staff are not trained to deal with attacks, while they are directly facing the pressure of life and death. There needs to be strong enough legal regulations to protect them while they are performing their duty to save people," he said.

Recently, the Ministry of Health has coordinated with the Ministry of Public Security to deploy the "hospital security team" model, increase patrols and handle unsafe situations. Many localities have initially recorded effectiveness in reducing serious incidents.

However, according to the assessment of experts from the Department of Administrative Police for Social Order in a recent meeting held with the Ministry of Health, the situation of assault on medical staff since the beginning of 2025 has increased in both frequency and danger level, showing that prevention work has not received due attention.

The department representative suggested that at hospitals with a large number of patients, police forces should be arranged to be on duty during peak hours for deterrence and prevention; at the same time, security forces should be increased in high-risk departments and rooms.

Lawyer Pham Van Hoc, Vice President of the Vietnam Private Hospital Association, also said that there is still a large legal gap in ensuring security and order at medical facilities.

"Currently, this content is only mentioned in Article 114 of the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment, which is of principle, and there are no specific instructions to handle violent behavior in hospitals," he said.

According to Mr. Hoc, it is necessary to identify medical staff as people performing official duties when performing professional duties. Any act of obstructing or attacking medical staff while they are working must be considered an act of resisting people performing official duties and will be strictly handled.

Will amend the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment

Mr. Hoang Minh Phuong, Deputy Director of the National Children's Hospital, recommended that in addition to strictly handling physical violence, special attention should be paid to mental violence, because psychological trauma can be long-lasting, affecting both the career and life of doctors.

Mr. Phuong supports the inclusion in the decree of regulations prohibiting people with disrespectful behavior or speech, or in a state of agitation, drunkenness, or using illegal substances, from entering medical facilities, except in emergency cases.

Deputy Minister Tran Van Thuan said the Ministry of Health is considering a proposal to amend the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment and Decree 96, adding regulations on hospital security and safety, including considering assault on medical staff as resisting people on duty; proposing amendments to the Ordinance on Meritorious People and a number of related documents.

WILLOW

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/y-bac-si-lien-tuc-bi-hanh-hung-lam-sao-benh-vien-la-noi-an-toan-20251031004148036.htm