Responding to sexual harassment by patients: A brief guide for general practices
Bystanders who speak up when they see another person experiencing sexual harassment help create a culture of safety and respect within a workplace. Speaking out helps model a confident approach to identifying and stamping out the behaviour.11 It is important that everyone in the team is clear on what constitutes sexual harassment and feels empowered to address it when it occurs.
The decision tree (Figure 1) can be applied when you see another person being sexually harassed by a patient. Staff should address the patient’s behaviour directly if it is safe to do so. If it is appropriate, stay with your colleague to support them to manage the situation. If the behaviour stops and you and others feel safe, the encounter can proceed; if the behaviour continues, the encounter should be terminated and/or the patient asked to leave.
As above, if the situation feels unsafe to you, consider terminating the encounter and asking the patient to leave. For more information, refer to Preventing and managing patient aggression and violence: A brief guide for general practices.
After the encounter, you can provide emotional support to the person who has been harassed, and offer to help them document and report the behaviour if appropriate.
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