Spatiotemporal Analysis of Injury Events Against Doctors in Guangdong Province by Geographic Information System

Abstract

Background

Violence against doctors is a global concern. Violent injuries against doctors occur periodically in China. At least one violent injury event was witnessed by 54% of medical staff against doctors in 2020. Analyzing this phenomenon and establishing preventive measures is a common concern of the medical and criminal communities.

Methods

This study comprised 712 injury events against doctors in Guangdong Province, China, from January 2019 to October 2022. The spatial distribution and spatiotemporal changes of these events were analyzed using ArcGIS and Excel software.

Results

Considering the geographical distribution, the injury events against doctors showed a three-level concentric circle pattern where, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, adjacent cities, and distant cities were ranked as high, medium, and low-risk areas, respectively. In temporal distribution, the periods of high incidence were 9–11, 14–15, and 20 o’clock, and the incidence tended to be similar daily, with the peaks in June and July.

Conclusion

We found that the risk level of injury events against doctors was positively correlated with the medical resources level in the areas. The injury event incidence was higher during the daytime working hours. Temperature may have a strong positive effect on injury events against doctors.

Keywords:

• injury events against doctors
• Guangdong Province
• spatiotemporal distribution characteristics
• spatiotemporal distribution analysis
• geographic information system

Databases

The data used in this study comes from media reports and field investigations.

Clarification

The data in this study has been obtained with individual informed consent.

Data Sharing Statement

The map used in this article is sourced from the Ministry of Natural Resources of the People’s Republic of China. Drawing review No. GS (2022)1873. The original data used in this study has not been disclosed. The data used and analyzed during the study were available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the Chinese PLA General Hospital. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Disclosure

The authors had no personal, financial, commercial, or academic conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported in part by the “Double First-Class” innovative research project in criminology at the People’s Public Security University of China (2023SYL03).