The Aggressive Incidents in Medical Settings (AIMS) Study: Advancing Measurement to Promote Prevention of Workplace Violence.

Background: Rates of aggressive events and workplace violence (WPV) exposure are often represented by proxy measures (restraint, incident, injury reports) in health care settings. Precise measurement of nurse and patient care assistant exposure rates to patient aggression on inpatient medical units in acute care hospitals advances knowledge, promoting WPV prevention and intervention.

Methods: This prospective, multisite cohort study examined the incidence of patient and visitor aggressive events toward patient care staff on five inpatient medical units in a community hospital and an academic hospital setting in the northeastern United States.