Table 4.
Proposed checklist for scientific research on violence against physicians and nurses (VPNCheck)
| SL No. | Heading | Points should be covered | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Introduction | Must clearly present the background of the study with rationale for the study | |
| 2. | Objective | Clearly state the objective of the study | |
| 3. | Methodology |
Study design should be properly described. Interviews should be taken away from the patient’s bed preferably in separate room to explore real picture better. Education/Academic qualification should be explored side by side experiences/number of years practices because both the issues are not the same. Intern and trainee doctors should be included into the study because they faced the patient much more than seniors in most of the tertiary care centres Male nurses should be included though they were not the majority and females to explore the influence of gender variable better. In the case of telephone interviews/ self-administered questionnaire, data quality should be checked to address contamination or regression of mean bias. Questionnaire selection should be comprehensive, covering all aspects of workplace violence related to the selected population. Qualitative studies should not be exclusively based on interview guide. It should be flexible after contextualization based on ground reality. Academic qualification/degree should be included and experience of work to know the relation of educational qualification with the issue |
Include: witness-based study. Part-time staff along with full-time staff |
| 4. | Result | Issue related to fewer reports of violence came up repeatedly. One reason to be less likely to report was due to ignorance from higher authority, a nurse or doctor representative. However, why the issue of ignorance repeatedly came up, which leads to non-reporting by victims, was not explored properly among selected articles. This issue should be focused on more. | |
| 5. | Discussion |
Negative findings should be discussed along with common positive findings to explore the situation as a whole. Methodological limitations and recommendations for future studies based on own experience should be included |
|
| 6. | Conclusion |
Strength and weakness of the current study should be written down along with limitations. Conclusion should be exclusively based on study findings |