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