Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • COVID-19
    • Articles & podcasts
    • Blog posts
    • Collection
    • News
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • Classified ads
  • Authors
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
  • CMA Members
    • Overview for members
    • Earn CPD Credits
    • Print copies of CMAJ
    • Career Ad Discount
  • Subscribers
    • General information
    • View prices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN

User menu

Search

  • Advanced search
CMAJ
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN
CMAJ

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • COVID-19
    • Articles & podcasts
    • Blog posts
    • Collection
    • News
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • Classified ads
  • Authors
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
  • CMA Members
    • Overview for members
    • Earn CPD Credits
    • Print copies of CMAJ
    • Career Ad Discount
  • Subscribers
    • General information
    • View prices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
  • Visit CMAJ on Facebook
  • Follow CMAJ on Twitter
  • Follow CMAJ on Pinterest
  • Follow CMAJ on Youtube
  • Follow CMAJ on Instagram
Editorial

Workplace violence is not part of a doctor’s job

Barbara Sibbald
CMAJ February 06, 2017 189 (5) E184; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.170086
Barbara Sibbald
News and Humanities Editor,
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF
Loading
Submit a Response to This Article
Compose Response

More information about text formats

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
References
Author Information
First or given name, e.g. 'Peter'.
Your last, or family, name, e.g. 'MacMoody'.
Your email address, e.g. higgs-boson@gmail.com
Your role and/or occupation, e.g. 'Orthopedic Surgeon'. Minimum 7 characters.
Your organization or institution (if applicable), e.g. 'Royal Free Hospital'. Minimum 12 characters.
Your organization, institution's or residential address.
Statement of Competing Interests

Vertical Tabs

Jump to comment:

  • An opportunity for collaboration towards shared solutions and best practices among pharmacists and physicians for preventing violence
    Andrea L. Murphy
    Posted on: 01 March 2017
  • Posted on: (1 March 2017)
    An opportunity for collaboration towards shared solutions and best practices among pharmacists and physicians for preventing violence
    • Andrea L. Murphy, Associate Professor

    Barbara Sibbald's article1 regarding workplace violence highlights important deficiencies in our understanding of the effectiveness and appropriateness of interventions for this issue. She also points out circumstances through which, "violence becomes part of the job." The research in this area is limited for community pharmacists2 and pharmacy students3 but many experience verbal abuse as "part of the job". A survey sa...

    Show More

    Barbara Sibbald's article1 regarding workplace violence highlights important deficiencies in our understanding of the effectiveness and appropriateness of interventions for this issue. She also points out circumstances through which, "violence becomes part of the job." The research in this area is limited for community pharmacists2 and pharmacy students3 but many experience verbal abuse as "part of the job". A survey sample of Australian community pharmacists (n=248) revealed that approximately one third had experienced verbal abuse monthly and 15% on a weekly basis.2 Bullying and intimidation was reported as occurring once per month by 15.7% and robberies were reported by 6.5%. The impact of violence was also significant with 19% reporting reluctance to return to work and over half reporting that they returned from work feeling anxious, angry, depressed, or irritable.2

    The rise in opioid use and related harms experienced by Canadians over the past 10 to 20 years has been well documented and extensively discussed.4,5 Pharmacists are inextricably linked to prescribers (i.e., physicians and nurse practitioners) because of our role as stewards of the medication supply including controlled drugs and substances. Clinical circumstances (e.g., patient safety) and regulatory considerations (e.g., rules surrounding quantities, part-fills, and refills) can result in the pharmacist appearing to act in conflict with the patient's or the prescriber's (or both) intentions. We have found that significant tensions can exist among patients, physicians, and pharmacists within this complex phenomenon of opioid treatment and that issues such as verbal abuse, bullying, and intimidation may arise.6

    Although forms of violence (e.g., robbery7,8) towards pharmacists in retail environments may differ from other health care professionals, shared similarities with practice characteristics and roles (e.g., working as sole practitioners or with few staff) may allow for the development of interventions that are transferrable among groups and settings. The opioid crisis presents us with an opportunity to more comprehensively understand violence and look at shared solutions in prevention.

    References:

    1. Sibbald B. Workplace violence is not part of a doctor's job. CMAJ 2017;189:e184. 2. Peterson GM, Tan SI, Jackson SL, Naunton M. Violence in community pharmacy in Australia: incidence and implications. Int J Clin Pharm 2011;33:264-272. 3. Rahim H, Shah B. Pharmacy students' perceptions and emotional responses to aggressive incidents in pharmacy practice. Am J Pharm Educ 2010;74:61. 4. Dhalla IA, Persaud N, Juurlink DN. Facing up to the prescription opioid crisis. BMJ 2011;343:d5142. 5. Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse. Prescription drugs. Available: http://www.ccsa.ca/Eng/topics/Prescription-Drugs/Pages/default.aspx. (Accessed 2017 February 28) 6. Murphy AL, Phelan H, Haslam S, et al. Community pharmacists' experiences in mental illness and addictions care: a qualitative study. Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy. 2016;11:6. 7. The Canadian Press. 2 men wearing disguises allegedly rob 6 Toronto pharmacies over 2 weeks. Available: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/2-men-wearing-disguises-allegedly- rob-6-toronto-pharmacies-over-2-weeks-1.3943856. (Accessed 2017 February 28). 8. Woo A. All B.C. pharmacies must now store drugs in time-delay safes. Available: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/all-bc- pharmacies-must-now-store-drugs-in-time-delay-safes/article26375550/. (Accessed 2017 February 28).

    Conflict of Interest:

    None declared

    Show Less
    Competing Interests: None declared.
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Canadian Medical Association Journal: 189 (5)
CMAJ
Vol. 189, Issue 5
6 Feb 2017
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author

Article tools

Respond to this article
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
To sign up for email alerts or to access your current email alerts, enter your email address below:
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on CMAJ.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Workplace violence is not part of a doctor’s job
(Your Name) has sent you a message from CMAJ
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the CMAJ web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Workplace violence is not part of a doctor’s job
Barbara Sibbald
CMAJ Feb 2017, 189 (5) E184; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.170086

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
‍ Request Permissions
Share
Workplace violence is not part of a doctor’s job
Barbara Sibbald
CMAJ Feb 2017, 189 (5) E184; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.170086
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Footnotes
    • References
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • An opportunity for pharmacists and physicians to collaborate to prevent violence
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • An opportunity for pharmacists and physicians to collaborate to prevent violence
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Trouver, tester, « tracer » et isoler énergiquement pour battre la COVID-19
  • Intégration des essais randomisés dans les soins cliniques : comment le Canada peut faire mieux
  • Soins continus et COVID-19 : Qu’une telle tragédie ne se reproduise plus au Canada!
Show more Editorial

Similar Articles

Content

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Collections
  • Sections
  • Blog
  • Podcasts
  • Alerts
  • RSS
  • Early releases

Information for

  • Advertisers
  • Authors
  • Reviewers
  • CMA Members
  • Media
  • Reprint requests
  • Subscribers

About

  • General Information
  • Journal staff
  • Editorial Board
  • Governance Council
  • Journal Oversight
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Copyright and Permissions

Copyright 2021, Joule Inc. or its licensors. All rights reserved. ISSN 1488-2329 (e) 0820-3946 (p)

All editorial matter in CMAJ represents the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of the Canadian Medical Association or its subsidiaries.

Powered by HighWire