A national survey of general practitioners' experiences of patient-initiated aggression in Australia

Objective: To determine the prevalence of patient-initiated aggression toward general practitioners in Australia. Design, setting and participants: A cross-sectional national survey, conducted during February - May 2010, of 3090 GPs in 19 Divisions of General Practice, purposively sampled to represent urban, rural and remote areas. Main outcome measure: Proportion of GPs experiencing patient-initiated aggression. Results: Eight-hundred and four GPs returned completed surveys (response rate, 26.3%). In the previous 12 months, 58% of GPs had experienced verbal abuse and 18% had experienced property damage or theft. Very few GPs had experienced physical abuse (6%), stalking (4%), sexual harassment (6%) or sexual assault (0.1%). After controlling for other demographic variables, GPs with fewer years of experience (P=0.003), or who worked full-time or in larger practices (both P=0.03) experienced significantly more verbal abuse than their counterparts, and GPs who worked full-time (P=0.004) or in metropolitan areas (P=0.01) experienced significantly more property damage or theft. Female GPs experienced significantly more sexual harassment than male GPs (P<0.001). Conclusions: This is the first national evidence of the prevalence of patient aggression toward GPs in Australia, which could inform the development of policies and guidelines that aim to reduce the prevalence of patient aggression toward GPs.