Managing violence and aggression

There are an increasing number of cases of aggressive incidents and physical assaults being reported in the media against health care personnel, suggesting that conflict and confrontation is occurring within a variety of clinical settings at a level previously unheard of. Whilst the potential for such conflict and confrontation can be minimized by developing effective interpersonal skills and adopting good communication strategies, it is perhaps inevitable, given the pain, stress and anxieties that many of our clients and their significant others have to face, that there will be occasions when tensions mount, leading to aggressive and/or violent outbursts.

Therefore, in order to remain safe, we need to remember ‘the 4 A’s’:

Awareness = Be aware that the potential for conflict, confrontation or aggression may exist in the clinical area.
Alertness = Be alert to the potential for conflict within yourself, your clients and within the clinical environment itself.
Avoidance = Avoid a conflict situation if at all possible.
Appropriate = response If you cannot avoid the situation then have a considered and appropriate response to any signs of potential conflict or aggression.