Violence against healthcare professionals is on the rise in the digital environment
- The nurse at Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu and president of the Community of Intelligence and Global Security (CISEG), David Garriga, warned of this trend at the 4th conference on the Prevention of aggression against professionals in the healthcare sector organized by the Ministry of Health.
- According to data from the Observatory for Situations of Violence in the Healthcare Sector in Catalonia, 3,039 cases of aggression against healthcare professionals were reported during 2025, a figure that highlights a growing and increasingly complex problem.
Violence against healthcare professionals is no longer just physical. The nurse at Parc Sanitari SJD and president of CISEG, David Garriga, asserts that in recent years a significant portion of these aggressions takes place within the digital environment, especially on social media where professionals may receive insults, threats, or smear campaigns.
Garriga participated in the 4th conference on the 'Prevention of aggression against professionals in the healthcare sector' organized by the Ministry of Health to mark the European Day Against Aggression towards Healthcare Professionals this March 12th.
Factors of digital violence
During this conference, the criminologist and nurse at Parc Sanitari SJD explained that digital violence toward healthcare professionals is primarily driven by three factors.
Firstly, digital accessibility has removed many barriers that previously separated the user from the healthcare professional. 'Today, anyone can locate, mention, or directly contact a professional through the internet,' he explained.
Secondly, the depersonalization inherent to the online environment allows for more disinhibited behaviour from the aggressor, as the professional is no longer perceived as a specific person and instead comes to symbolically represent the healthcare system.
Finally, Garriga highlighted the emotional context in which healthcare is delivered. A context in which situations such as the communication of serious diagnoses, uncertainty, or emotional stress can generate frustration, which in some cases is channelled through aggressive behaviour.
Aggressor profiles and response model
According to Garriga, for aggressive behaviour to occur, three elements must coincide: a motivated aggressor, an accessible victim, and the absence of people who can intervene to prevent the assault. Criminology has studied this phenomenon through the 'frustration-aggression' hypothesis, according to which an aggressive response occurs when a person's expectations are blocked.
Criminological analysis, Garriga explained, allows for the identification of different aggressor profiles, reactive, instrumental, disinhibited, and repeat offender. And it must be taken into account that in some cases, aggressive behaviour may be influenced by clinical conditions such as, for example, states of confusion.
In the face of this reality, Garriga proposes that healthcare institutions move toward an integrated security model that incorporates both in-person and digital prevention.This model must also ensure the systematic recording of all aggressions, both physical and online, and must provide a clear and coherent response. 'Only in this way can safer care environments be built, both on and off the screen,' Garriga concluded.
