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Violence in health care. Understanding, preventing and surviving violence: a practice guide for health professionals
Behaviour Research and Therapy 41 (2003) 257–259 www.elsevier.com/locate/brat
Book Reviews Violence in health care. Understanding, preventing and surviving violence: a practice guide for health professionals Second Edition. J Shepherd (Ed); Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2001, pp. 229 As the title suggests, this book is aimed at health care professionals. It is intended to provide them with a wealth of information about the nature and causes of violence in health settings, and its aftermath and deleterious effects on staff. It provides guidance about the prevention and management of violence, and offers useful practical advice about the legal process, for example, when to call in the police or to seek compensation. Overall, I found this to be an excellent book, which provides much needed academic and practical material for health care workers. The first edition of this book was published in 1994 and the editor appears to have taken into consideration in this second edition constructive feedback from reviewers of the first edition and there is much important new material. This book is comprised of 11 individual chapters. The authors are eminent professionals in their respective fields. The quality of the chapters is excellent throughout. The order of chapters in terms of topics is good, commencing with an excellent overview of violence by David Farrington, moving on to the role of alcohol, drugs and mental illness in violence, addressing the importance of the physical environment and its design, addressing staff and service related factors, the management of violence, the consequences of the violence on staff, issues related to compensation, and recommendations for future directions. What are the limitations to the book? The book focuses primarily on violence and threats of violence against health care staff (i.e. mainly nurses and doctors). What about violence against other patients and its aftermath? There is little attention paid specifically to this important area in the book. I think it would have been good to see this neglected area addressed satisfactorily in the book. The importance of violence on other patients should not be overlooked or minimised. Secondly, the potential importance of patients’ ethnic background in relation to the management of violent incidents is not addressed (see Gudjonsson et al, 2000, for a review of this issue). This is an area that is commonly neglected in terms of research, academic writing, and staff training, but will in future need to be addressed, researched and understood. In spite of these limitations, I highly recommend this book to health care workers. It represents a significant contribution to the field. Reference Gudjonsson, G. H., Rabe-Hesketh, S., & Wilson, C. (2000). Violent incidents in a psychiatric hospital. The target of assault and the management of incidents. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry, 11, 105–118.
Gisli H. Gudjonsson doi:10.1016/S0005-7967(02)00136-5
Book Reviews Violence in health care. Understanding, preventing and surviving violence: a practice guide for health professionals Second Edition. J Shepherd (Ed); Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2001, pp. 229 As the title suggests, this book is aimed at health care professionals. It is intended to provide them with a wealth of information about the nature and causes of violence in health settings, and its aftermath and deleterious effects on staff. It provides guidance about the prevention and management of violence, and offers useful practical advice about the legal process, for example, when to call in the police or to seek compensation. Overall, I found this to be an excellent book, which provides much needed academic and practical material for health care workers. The first edition of this book was published in 1994 and the editor appears to have taken into consideration in this second edition constructive feedback from reviewers of the first edition and there is much important new material. This book is comprised of 11 individual chapters. The authors are eminent professionals in their respective fields. The quality of the chapters is excellent throughout. The order of chapters in terms of topics is good, commencing with an excellent overview of violence by David Farrington, moving on to the role of alcohol, drugs and mental illness in violence, addressing the importance of the physical environment and its design, addressing staff and service related factors, the management of violence, the consequences of the violence on staff, issues related to compensation, and recommendations for future directions. What are the limitations to the book? The book focuses primarily on violence and threats of violence against health care staff (i.e. mainly nurses and doctors). What about violence against other patients and its aftermath? There is little attention paid specifically to this important area in the book. I think it would have been good to see this neglected area addressed satisfactorily in the book. The importance of violence on other patients should not be overlooked or minimised. Secondly, the potential importance of patients’ ethnic background in relation to the management of violent incidents is not addressed (see Gudjonsson et al, 2000, for a review of this issue). This is an area that is commonly neglected in terms of research, academic writing, and staff training, but will in future need to be addressed, researched and understood. In spite of these limitations, I highly recommend this book to health care workers. It represents a significant contribution to the field. Reference Gudjonsson, G. H., Rabe-Hesketh, S., & Wilson, C. (2000). Violent incidents in a psychiatric hospital. The target of assault and the management of incidents. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry, 11, 105–118.
Gisli H. Gudjonsson doi:10.1016/S0005-7967(02)00136-5