title: Discrimination and abuse experienced by general internists in Canada.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify the frequency of psychological and emotional abuse, gender discrimination, verbal sexual harassment, physical sexual harassment, physical assault, and homophobia experienced by general internists.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  Canadian general internal medicine practices.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall response rate was 70.6% (984/1,393); the 501 respondents who classified themselves as general internists were studied. Three-fourths of the internists experienced psychological and emotional abuse at the hands of patients, and 38% of the women and 26% of the men experienced physical assault by patients. The majority of the female internists experienced gender discrimination by patients (67%) and by physician peers (56%). Forty-five percent of the women experienced verbal sexual harassment by patients, and 22% experienced physical sexual harassment by patients. The male internists experienced verbal sexual harassment from nurses slightly more often than the female internists did (19% vs 13%, p > 0.05). Verbal sexual harassment by male colleagues was reported by 35% of the female internists, and physical sexual harassment was reported by 11%. Approximately 40% of general internists reported homophobic remarks by both health care team members and patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Abuse, discrimination, and homophobia are prevalent in the internal medicine workplace. A direct, progressive, multidisciplinary approach is necessary to label and address these problems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, McMaster University Faculty of Health Sciences, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.forename: L E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Griffith
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: G H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Guyatt
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: O'Brien
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002170:Canada; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011287:Prejudice; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017406:Sexual Harassment / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires