Original ReportsBullying and Sexual Discrimination in the Greek Health Care System
Introduction
Modern medicine is based on communication, teamwork, and balancing team dynamics. In an increasingly complicated environment of decision-making and patient management, there is no room for failure in any of the links of the communication chain.1, 2, 3, 4, 5 This is simply one more reason why bullying and discrimination cannot be tolerated at any part of the hospital environment, regardless of the specialty, the level of seniority, or the role in the team.
Medicine and doctors have not been immune to the widespread stereotypes that appear to be deep rooted and very often seem to fuel unfair treatments toward some of the weakest members of the team. Medicine used to be a male-dominated profession with certain specialties like surgery being almost exclusively run by testosterone.6, 7, 8, 9, 10 These stereotypes and the associated bullying and discrimination can sometimes determine the success of a career in medicine but can also affect the quality of the provided patient care.1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 11, 12, 13 It is not surprising that the professional well-being of the doctors is associated with clinical outcomes. Especially now with an increasing number of female doctors and multicultural clinical teams, the need to improve communication and establish respect at all levels of the chain of command is more important than ever.
The Greek health care system is no exception to the above. Running within a financially challenging environment, it has to face many challenges,14 one of which is to adjust to the new era of equality and respect between all clinical team members. Hierarchy has been a very strong management characteristic in Greek Hospitals with ranks similar to that of a military unit and with very little space for constructive dialog or criticism for those who are at lower ranks. At the same time, medicine in Greece has also been male-dominated with certain specialties being traditionally less accommodating for female doctors. However, with the current rise in the number of female medical students, there is a new reality and it is important to understand how the old establishment appreciates and interacts with it.15, 16, 17, 18
The main objective of this study is to provide a preliminary assessment of the incidence of bullying and discrimination in the Greek medical profession in an attempt to raise awareness and trigger action for change.
Section snippets
Methods
An online, questionnaire was designed regarding sex discrimination and bullying during residency training and medical practice. The first section of the questionnaire consisted of 6 demographic questions about participant׳s education, specialty, and job status at the moment. The second section contained scaled questions designed to measure respondent׳s job satisfaction, propensity to leave, and the effect that bullying/sexual discrimination had in the doctor׳s training, employment, or both (for
Results
We received 1349 completed questionnaires, which represented a response rate of 48%. There was a nonsignificant difference in the sex of the participating doctors with more male physicians (54.3% vs. 45.7%, p > 0.05) and with the majority being above the age of 30 years (Table 1). As expected from the population demographics of Greece, most participants worked in Athens (44.77%) with 38.3% of the participants specializing in internal medicine, 35% in surgery, 11.2% in radiology/lab-based
Discussion
This is the first national survey in Greece attempting to assess the incidence and understand the characteristics of bullying and discrimination in the Greek medical profession. According to the survey, workplace bullying is a real problem that affects a significant proportion of health care professionals. Both men and women appear to have been affected by inappropriate behaviors with different characteristics in the reported mistreatment.
Multiple studies have shown that bullying and sexual
Conclusion
This is the first study to investigate the incidence and characteristics of bullying and discrimination in the Greek medical profession. Despite the inherent methodological limitations of this type of studies, we believe that this report can help to raise awareness regarding this major issue. Further research is urgently warranted and we hope that the appropriate Greek authorities will be mobilized to improve the training and working conditions for Greek doctors.
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