A retrospective evaluation of white code - Assault against medical staff cases in 2013 in our center [Hastanemizde 2013 yili içinde beyaz kod-saʇlik çalişanlarina şiddet olaylarinin retrospektif deʇerlendirmesi]

Objective: medical staff are under increased risk of physical and/or verbal assaults due to close contact with public. this increases anxiety level and decreases productivity. in this article we aimed to summarize the physical or verbal assault cases in our center in 2013-2014 period. method: white code (assault against medical staff) data in kecioren training and research hospital between january 2013 and january 2014 was collected and analyzed retrospectively. results: a total of 42 cases was reported. most common clinics were pediatric inpatient and adult emergency clinics (14.3%). including the pediatric emergency the most common clinic was emergency clinic (21.4%). majority of cases occured during day time (54.8%). most common cause was having to wait in long queue. 59.5% of cases were verbal quarrel while 35.7% were insulting and 4.8% were physical assaults. medical staff has been complainant officially only in 14% of cases. conclusion: assaults against medical staff is a common and important problem that could be prevented by increased education and legal precautions.