Serious assaults by inpatients

Forty-nine hospital wards in the United States and Canada were surveyed during specified periods for one year to document assaults by inpatients on staff or other patients. Nine (5.7%) of the 158 assaults by adult psychiatric inpatients were sufficiently severe to require medical treatment. Four others occurred on the only children's service studied. Only one (2.6%) of 39 assaults on adult nonpsychiatric units required medical care. Injuries were rarely serious, with only four assaults in any setting leading to bedrest or missed workdays. The overall rate of assault (assaults per bed per year) on 27 adult psychiatric units was 1.36; for assaults requiring treatment, the rate was 0.08. The rate of assault of any kind on 22 adult nonpsychiatric units was 0.28 assaults per bed per year.