Serious assaults by outpatients or former patients

Area of Science:

• Forensic Psychiatry
• Clinical Psychology
• Medical Professional Safety

Background:

• Assaults against mental health professionals are a concern.
• Understanding the specific risks for psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, and family practitioners is important for safety protocols.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify the incidence of serious injuries from patient assaults on mental health professionals.
• To compare assault rates among these professionals to the general population.
• To investigate the correlation between clinical experience and assault victimisation.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of assault incident data involving psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, and family practitioners.
• Comparison of assault rates with non-patient related assaults.
• Statistical analysis to determine the relationship between years of clinical experience and assault risk.

Main Results:

• Serious injuries from patient assaults are rare among psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, and family practitioners.
• The rate of significant assault is comparable to rates of assault in the general population, such as mugging.
• No statistically significant relationship was found between the extent of clinical experience and the likelihood of being a victim of assault.

Conclusions:

• Mental health professionals in these roles have a low risk of serious injury from patient assaults.
• Assault risk for these professionals is similar to that of the general public.
• Clinical experience does not appear to be a protective or risk factor for assault victimisation.