Occupational medicine
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Occupational medicine · Sep 2005
Violence toward mental health staff and safety in the work environment.
An increasing number of violent episodes toward staff were noted at a university department of psychiatry. A multidisciplinary committee was formed consisting of psychiatrists, biostatisticians, psychologists, nurses, administrators, data managers, social workers, security services, educators on personal safety and an attorney to address the problem. ⋯ Threats and assaults on mental health staff have a substantial prevalence and are increasing in our psychiatric population. Practical recommendations derived from our study but in need of further research for confirmation are: (1) multidisciplinary personal safety training to enhance team-building, improve communication and help prevent violent events and (2) establishment of post-event protocols to assist staff-victims and administrators navigate through complex issues occurring after violent events.