"The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated factors that cause violence in the workplace. At no time in recent history will you find clinical health care workers under this degree of stress. Physicians and nurses are operating under high alert in hospitals and clinics while facing COVID deniers and abusive treatment (name-calling such as “disease spreaders”) in their day-to-day life. Due to social distancing measures, shutdowns, and resultant economic fallout, patients are experiencing significant psychological and financial burdens. The politicization of the pandemic has elevated the level of difficulty for all parties.

This combination of clinical and societal strain increases the likelihood of overly (and overtly) aggressive or unpredictable reactions to day to day encounters."

Mercy Udoji is an anesthesiologist.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "When an epidemic of violence against health care workers meets a pandemic." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/09/when-an-epidemic-of-violence-against-health-care-workers-meets-a-pandemic.html)