Comparación de la violencia y agresiones sufridas por el personal de salud durante la pandemia de COVID-19 en Argentina y el resto de Latinoamérica

Sebastián Garcia-Zamora; Pablo A. Iomini; Laura Pulido; Andrés F. Miranda-Arboleda; Pilar Lopez-Santi; Lucrecia M. Burgos; Gonzalo E. Perez; Mauricio Priotti; Darío E. García; Melisa Antoniolli; Gabriel Musso; Ezequiel J. Zaidel; Álvaro Sosa-Liprandi; Mildren A. Del-Sueldo; Ricardo Lopez-Santi; Gustavo Vazquez; Adrián Baranchuk

doi:10.17843/rpmesp.2023.402.12646

Authors

Sebastián Garcia-Zamora Servicio de Cardiología, Sanatorio Delta, Rosario, Argentina https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6846-0247
Pablo A. Iomini Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) - UDH Hospital Dr. Prof. Alejandro Posadas, Buenos Aires, Argentina https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7620-8989
Laura Pulido Servicio de Neumonología, Sanatorio Centro, Rosario, Argentina. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8450-8711
Andrés F. Miranda-Arboleda División de Cardiología, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canadá https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0551-5279
Pilar Lopez-Santi División de Cardiología, Hospital Italiano de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2887-4159
Lucrecia M. Burgos Instituto Cardiovascular de Buenos Aires, Argentina https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3999-1265
Gonzalo E. Perez División de Cardiología, Clínica Olivos, Buenos Aires, Argentina https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2872-767X
Mauricio Priotti Servicio de Cardiología, Sanatorio Delta, Rosario, Argentina https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9272-6663
Darío E. García Federacion Latinoamericana de Medicina de Emergecias, Ciudad de México, México https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2113-5169
Melisa Antoniolli Servicio de Cardiología, Sanatorio Finochietto, Buenos Aires, Argentina https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4850-1253
Gabriel Musso Servicio de Terapia Intensiva, Sanatorio Parque, Rosario, Argentina https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9869-1350
Ezequiel J. Zaidel Departamento de Cardiología, Sanatorio Güemes, CABA, Argentina https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8349-7507
Álvaro Sosa-Liprandi Departamento de Cardiología, Sanatorio Güemes, CABA, Argentina. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2195-5020
Mildren A. Del-Sueldo Fundación Certus-Clínica de Especialidades, Córdoba, Argentina https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9034-5808
Ricardo Lopez-Santi División de Cardiología, Hospital Italiano de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1713-326X
Gustavo Vazquez Departamento de Psiquiatría, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canadá https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2918-3336
Adrián Baranchuk División de Cardiología, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canadá. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3042-6569

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17843/rpmesp.2023.402.12646

Keywords:

Violence, COVID-19, Pandemics, Aggression, Latin America, Health Personnel

Abstract

Objectives. To explore the frequency and impact of violence against healthcare workers in Argentina and to compare it with the rest of their Latin American peers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted by applying an electronic survey on Latin American medical and non-medical personnel who carried out health care tasks since March 2020. We used Poisson regression to estimate crude (PR) and adjusted (aPR) Prevalence Ratios with their respective 95% confidence intervals. Results. A total of 3544 participants from 19 countries answered the survey; 1992 (56.0%) resided in Argentina. Of these, 62.9% experienced at least one act of violence; 97.7% reported verbal violence and 11.8% physical violence. Of those who were assaulted, 41.5% experienced violence at least once a week. Health personnel from Argentina experienced violence more frequently than those from other countries (62.9% vs. 54.6%, p<0.001), and these events were more frequent and stressful (p<0.05). In addition, Argentinean health personnel reported having considered changing their healthcare tasks and/or desired to leave their profession more frequently (p<0.001). In the Poisson regression, we found that participants from Argentina had a higher prevalence of violence than health workers from the region (14.6%; p<0.001). Conclusions. There was a high prevalence of violence against health personnel in Argentina during the COVID-19 pandemic. These events had a strong negative impact on those who suffered them. Our data suggest that violence against health personnel may have been more frequent in Argentina than in other regions of the continent.

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