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Identifying mitigating and challenging beliefs in dealing with threatening patients: an analysis of experiences of clinicians working in a psychiatric intensive care unit

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 January 2012

Rachel E Evans  and
Soren Petter
Rachel E Evans*
Affiliation:
Trainee Clinical Psychologist, University College London, UK
Soren Petter
Affiliation:
HPC Registered Practitioner Psychologist, Lecturer in Psychology, School of Counselling Psychology and Psychotherapy, Regent’s College, London, UK
*
Correspondence to: Rachel Evans, Department of Clinical Psychology, 4th Floor, 1–19 Torrington Place, London, WC1E 7HB. E-mail: Rachel.Evans.09@UCL.ac.uk
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Abstract

Background: Staff working on psychiatric intensive care units (PICUs) are routinely exposed to aggression or threats of aggression from the patients they care for. This phenomenon is identified as an ongoing factor that influences both work performance as well as staff sickness, and as such requires understanding and management.

Aims & method: This study utilized questionnaires assessing the extent to which PICU staff thought violence was a problem and how safe and supported they felt. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five nurses to gather in-depth information on the factors involved in perceptions of safety and support.

Results: The analysis indicated that as a whole, staff feel safe and supported by their immediate team. Interview analysis produced two main domains and ten sub-domains of experiences that contribute to managing threats, these being grouped in either personal or systemic factors. It particularly highlighted that although patient aggression is a concern, the perception of threat most directly relates to beliefs about a lack of support from other teams and senior management, not the patients themselves.

Conclusions: More research and attention is needed on systemic factors in the management of threatening patients.

Keywords

PatientaggressionPICUstaff-supportsafetysystemic
Type
Original Research Article
Information
Journal of Psychiatric Intensive Care , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , August 2012 , pp. 113 - 119
Copyright
Copyright © NAPICU 2012

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