More than 50% healthcare workers feel their workplace is 'unsafe': Study

Survey reveals significant security gaps in Indian healthcare settings, urging urgent improvements in safety measures for healthcare workers.

More than half of the healthcare workers who participated in a survey feel that their workplace is "unsafe", particularly in state and central government medical colleges.

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Led by experts from the Vardhman Mahavir Medical College (VMMC), Safdarjung Hospital and AIIMS, New Delhi, the study highlighted "significant gaps" in the security infrastructure within Indian healthcare settings.

The "Workplace Safety and Security in Indian Healthcare Settings: A Cross-Sectional Survey" published in a recent issue of the journal 'Epidemiology International' underscored the urgent need for improving the prevailing safety and security measures in healthcare settings.

The survey is a collaborative effort of Dr. Kartik Chadhar and Dr. Jugal Kishore from the VMMC and Safdarjung Hospital along with Dr. Richa Mishra, Dr. Semanti Das, Dr. Indra Shekhar Prasad and Dr. Prakalp Gupta from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi.

The cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1,566 healthcare workers from diverse medical institutions across India using a pre-tested, self-administered online questionnaire, which assessed various dimensions of workplace safety. Logistic regression was used to find differences among groups.

The survey participants consisted of 869 (55.5%) females and 697 (44.5 %) males. About one-fourth (24.7%) of healthcare workers were from Delhi and around half of the them were resident doctors (49.6%), followed by undergraduate medical students, including interns (15.9%).