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The National Audit of Violence: in-patient care for adults of working age

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Robert Chaplin
Affiliation:
Royal College of Psychiatrists' Research and Training Unit, 4th Floor Standon House, 21 Mansell Street, London E1 8AA, email: rchaplin@cru.rcpsych.ac.uk
Maureen McGeorge
Affiliation:
Royal College of Psychiatrists' Research and Training Unit, London E1 8AA
Paul Lelliott
Affiliation:
Royal College of Psychiatrists' Research and Training Unit, London E1 8AA
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Abstract

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Aims and Method

We audited 184 psychiatric wards against clinical practice guidelines for the management of violence. Staff and service users completed anonymous questionnaires. Environmental inspections were performed by two teams.

Results

There were 4460 questionnaires returned. Nurses (78%) were significantly more likely to report the experience of violence than service users (37%). Drugs were reported by 72% of nurses and alcohol by 61% as causing problems. Other standards frequently not met included staffing levels, training, provision of activities, ward design and ambience.

Clinical Implications

Specific issues are identified that must be addressed by national and local action. A baseline is set against which the impact of this action can be judged. Priorities must include tackling drug and alcohol use in psychiatric wards.

Type
Original papers
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2006

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