Abstract

ENRIQUEZ, Diego; GOMEZ TRAVERSO, Raúl  and  SZYLD, Edgardo. Behavior of pediatric medical residents during a clinical simulation of a violent mother in a pediatric emergency. Arch. argent. pediatr. [online]. 2016, vol.114, n.3, pp.232-236. ISSN 0325-0075.  http://dx.doi.org/10.5546/aap.2016.232.

Introduction. Physicians are frequently victims of both physical and verbal violence. Specific training is required for staff so that they are able to deal with these situations. Objective. To assess the clinical management and behavior of pediatric medical residents towards a violent mother during a pediatric emergency simulation. Materials and methods. Observational, retrospective and descriptive study. Video recordings of a pediatric emergency simulation with the participation of medical residents working at a public children's hospital between March and July 2014 were reviewed. The case mother was verbally violent and interfered with participants, both physically and orally. During debriefing, discussions were recorded. Results. Sixty-eight pediatric medical residents divided into 15 groups were observed. Twelve handled the episode appropriately; only two groups asked the security staff to remove the mother from the scene (recommended behavior). Other two groups managed to remove the mother from the clinical scenario but in the midst of struggles. Out of all physicians, 54.4% (n = 37) came into physical contact with the mother, and 95.6% had not previously received guidelines on how to manage violent situations. Conclusions. Only a few groups managed to remove the violent mother from the scene. Unconsented physical contact with the mother was one of the most commonly observed behaviors. A lack of institutional guidelines on how to handle violent situations was detected.

Keywords : Patient simulation; Violence; Workplace violence.

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