Risks of being threatened or physically assaulted by patients are high in health care, particularly within the nursing profession (The Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP), 2007). Audits have found that up to 86% of nurses are affected by violence, and aggression against nurses remains consistently high (Duxbury and Wright, 2011). The focus on violence in nursing tends to be on mental health nursing or accident and emergency departments (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), 2005). However, all nurses are at risk of being assaulted and all specialties should take note of this risk, and take action to appropriately train and protect nurses, and to decrease the likelihood of such events through ensuring patient environments and care are suitable to the population (RCP, 2007). For example, nurses working with older people, especially those with dementia who can become aggressive in response to their disorientation, tend to be at particularly high risk of violence and patients may not even realise they are being abusive (RCP, 2007).
展开▼
