The Incidence of Violent Patient Behaviour Experienced by Sonographers in Australia: A Survey of Qualified Sonographers

ABSTRACT Introduction Patient or visitor violence against healthcare workers is a common occurrence. There is a paucity of research in this area, especially around violence and sexual harassment against Australian sonographers. The aim of this research was to investigate the prevalence and types of patient or visitor workplace violence targeted towards qualified Australian sonographers. Methods An anonymous online survey was used to investigate the prevalence of different types of violence towards Australian sonographers in the 2 years prior to September of 2023. The survey used a validated workplace violence survey as a template and included questions on verbal, physical and sexual harassment. Results Participants (185/311 (59%)) reported at least one type of patient initiated violence over 2 years. Similar to previous research, the most common form of violence was verbal violence. Conclusion We demonstrate continuing occasions of violence against Australian sonographers. There was no evidence of a decline in verbal or physical violence experienced by Australian sonographers, with verbal abuse remaining the most prevalent form of WPV. Although there has been one other study investigating WPV against sonographers in Australia, this is the first to report on sexual harassment against Australian sonographers.