Aligning Assessment With Intervention: An Inpatient Mental Health Initiative

Aligning assessment and intervention decreases risk for violence against nurses working in psychiatric settings. There is an urgent need to ensure the well-being of health care professionals who are on the frontline of mental health care. There is a notable gap in how nurses at the project site document and address these incidents. Despite existing tools, such as the Broset Violence Checklist (BVC), there is inconsistent application in real-world scenarios. A robust approach that ensures risk assessment directly leads to timely and appropriate interventions is crucial. Reducing violence in mental health settings is vital for both staff safety and quality patient care. With proper implementation and staff education, the BVC Risk Bundle can play a key role in mitigating these risks. There was a statistically significant decrease in the number of injuries associated with BVC scores < 2, and an improvement in the timeliness of BVC score documentation after an injury with a p value of 0.04. While the target of 100% compliance was not met, the initiative led to an 11.1% improvement in the alignment of BVC scores with documented incidents, as well as a 0.7-h reduction in documentation time. Despite these safety improvements, barriers remain. Aligning assessment with intervention is not merely a procedural change; it is a vital step toward supporting safer work environments for mental health professionals and the patients who are in their care.