A Quality Improvement Approach to Violence Reduction: Standardizing the Risk Identification Process.

Background: The impact of aggressive and violent behaviors directed toward staff in psychiatric facilities has layers of implications tied to recruitment and retention, cost, quality and safety.

Local Problem: Increased patient aggressive behaviors contributed to staff dissatisfaction and high turnover rates, triggering an analysis of current aggression management approaches.

Methods: The Plan-Do-Study-Act quality improvement method was used for this project.