A review of violence and personal injury legal cases in psychiatric and mental health nursing to identify a practical framework for risk assessment

Legal cases were analyzed that involved violence resulting in staff injury, patient assaults on staff, accidents involving the elderly, and patient self harm or injury where there was also an alleged breech in the duty of care. The study resulted in recommendations for: improved systems of work, including a practical framework to anticipate and recognize risk, with a case management approach to individual care, and supervisory procedures for vulnerable staff, explicit consent from patients and carers, and integrated recording of interdisciplinary methods for care.