General Practice Week

General practitioners (GPs) are extremely concerned about protecting their patients and staff from violence in their medical practices, according to Australian Medical Association (AMA) Queensland.

As part of General Practice Week (15-21 June), the AMA has launched an anti-violence kit to make medical practices safer for GPs, their staff and patients.

AMA Queensland president, Dr Chris Davis, said the general practice environment needed to be safe because the community placed a great deal of trust in their local doctor.

The AMA has sent out the kit ‘We care for you, you care for us’ to all its GP members – explaining the risks of, and strategies to minimise violence in medical practice.

Dr Davis said research indicated more than half of GPs were exposed to work-related violence in any 12-month period.

“Although verbal abuse is the most common form of violence in a medical practice, stalking, threatening behaviour, sexual harassment, property damage or assault have been recorded,” he said.

Dr Davis said a patient’s behaviour could be unpredictable because they were under a great deal of stress, in pain or upset.

“Doctors deal with patients from many different backgrounds – with a wide variety of conditions – and unfortunately, situations can escalate quickly.

“The impact on patients, as well as practice staff can be significant,” he said.

The anti-violence kit will give GPs useful and practical information on how to manage the risks of workplace violence, how to identify, assess and control risks and what to do after an incident.

General Practice Week highlights the importance of General Practice in our healthcare system and shows that GPs are leading the way to better health.