Understanding patient‐to‐worker violence in hospitals: a qualitative analysis of documented incident reports

Abstract

Identifying catalysts and situations involved in patient violence in hospitals informs administrators about potential targets for intervention. Hospital staff can be trained to recognize these specific risk factors for patient violence and can be educated in how to best mitigate or prevent the most common forms of violent behaviour. A social-ecological model can be adapted to the hospital setting as a framework for prevention of patient violence towards staff.