Sexual misconduct by health professionals in Australia, 2011-2016: a retrospective analysis of notifications to health regulators.
Adult
Aged
Australia
Data Collection
Female
Health Occupations
/ legislation & jurisprudence
Health Personnel
/ legislation & jurisprudence
Humans
Male
Mandatory Reporting
Middle Aged
Professional Misconduct
/ statistics & numerical data
Retrospective Studies
Sexual Harassment
/ statistics & numerical data
Ethics, professional
Medical misconduct
Professional misconduct
Sex offenses
Sexual harassment in medicine
Journal
The Medical journal of Australia
ISSN: 1326-5377
Titre abrégé: Med J Aust
Pays: Australia
ID NLM: 0400714
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
09 2020
09 2020
Historique:
received:
05
11
2019
accepted:
07
04
2020
entrez:
15
1
2021
pubmed:
16
1
2021
medline:
3
2
2021
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
To assess the numbers of notifications to health regulators alleging sexual misconduct by registered health practitioners in Australia, by health care profession. Retrospective cohort study; analysis of Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and NSW Health Professional Councils Authority data on notifications of sexual misconduct during 2011-2016. All registered practitioners in 15 health professions. Notification rates (per 10 000 practitioner-years) and adjusted rate ratios (aRRs) by age, sex, profession, medical specialty, and practice location. Regulators received 1507 sexual misconduct notifications for 1167 of 724 649 registered health practitioners (0.2%), including 208 practitioners (18%) who were the subjects of more than one report during 2011-2016; 381 notifications (25%) alleged sexual relationships, 1126 (75%) sexual harassment or assault. Notifications regarding sexual relationships were more frequent for psychiatrists (15.2 notifications per 10 000 practitioner-years), psychologists (5.0 per 10 000 practitioner-years), and general practitioners (6.4 per 10 000 practitioner-years); the rate was higher for regional/rural than metropolitan practitioners (aRR, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.31-2.30). Notifications of sexual harassment or assault more frequently named male than female practitioners (aRR, 37.1; 95% CI, 26.7-51.5). A larger proportion of notifications of sexual misconduct than of other forms of misconduct led to regulatory sanctions (242 of 709 closed cases [34%] v 5727 of 23 855 [24%]). While notifications alleging sexual misconduct by health practitioners are rare, such misconduct has serious consequences for patients, practitioners, and the community. Further efforts are needed to prevent sexual misconduct in health care and to ensure thorough investigation of alleged misconduct.
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
218-224Informations de copyright
© 2020 AMPCo Pty Ltd.
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