Caroline Kamau-Mitchell

Caroline Kamau-Mitchell, reader (associate professor) in occupational health Birkbeck, University of London, London WC1E 7HX, UK c.kamau{at}bbk.ac.uk Body cameras and panic alarms in healthcare settings could act as deterrents and reactive solutions to abusive incidents, writes Caroline Kamau-Mitchell Doctors and healthcare staff need better protection from violence and harassment—many have lost their lives or been injured around the world.

Introduction The World Health Organization (WHO) recognises violence and sexual harassment as common occupational hazards affecting people who work in healthcare, and WHO encourages occupational health practitioners to implement preventive measures.1 While previous reviews exposed the scale of violence from patients2 and sexual harassment of nurses or combined groups of health workers by patients,3, 4 the global scale of patient-to-physician sexual harassment specifically is not yet known.