A MULTINATIONAL STUDY OF PSYCHIATRIC NURSING STAFFS BELIEFS AND CONCERNS ABOUT WORK SAFETY AND PATIENT ASSAULT

In an effort to understand beliefs and concerns about work safety and patient assault, the author describes the results of a multinational s urvey of 999 nursing staff members working in psychiatric facilities a cross the United States, Canada, United Kindgom, and South Africa. Alt hough the majority of the sample (75%) reported being physically assau lted at least once during their careers, 62% responded that they felt safe in their work environment most of the time. Significant differenc es were found among the nurses with regard to beliefs about adequacy o f staffing, safety of the physical environment, admission of assaultiv e patients, expectations about being victims of assault, overall level of safety, and taking legal action against a patient. A significant d ifference in attitudes was also found among nursing staff members, who reported previous assaults. They believed that assaults are expected events in their work with psychiatric patients. Copyright (C) 1996 by W.B. Saunders Company