Introduction Workplace bullying (WPB) is a peculiar form of workplace violence. This behavior affects the healthcare sector in general and particularly intensive care units such as anaesthesiology.

Objectives The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of WPB among anaesthesiology caregivers and to identify its impact on their mental health.

Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted over three months among the anaesthesiology caregivers of the three university hospitals of Mahdia and Monastir in Tunisia (n=129). A self-administrated survey was used, including the standardized Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised (NAQ-R) to evaluate the WPB. The impact on mental health was assessed by the Rosenberg self-esteem scale, the Beck Depressive Inventory and the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale.

Results The response rate was 55%. The sex-ratio (M/W) was 0.57 and the mean age was 36.1 ± 1.1 years. Among the respondents, the prevalence of bullying, measured by the NAQ-R score, was 36.5%. Moreover, 46.7% of anaesthesiology caregivers self-labelled themselves as victims of WPB. According to the Beck Depressive Inventory, 61.7% of the anaesthesiology staff were depressed. Anxiety disorders were noted in 49.9% of cases. The Self-esteem was ‘very low’ to ‘low’ among 40% of the caregivers. Multivariate analysis showed that WPB was significantly associated with female gender (p=0.009), the status of medical residents (p=0.021), atypical working hours (p=0.008), lower self-esteem (p=0.002), and anxiety (p=0.004). No correlation was found between WPB and depression.

Conclusion The mental health of caregivers, especially in intensive care units, determines the quality of care and the patient safety. This mental health is negatively impacted by WPB. Thus, the worrisome high rates of WPB observed in the intensive-care and anaesthesiology environment require the implementation of preventive measures in order to overcome this behavior.