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A recently completed doctoral study conducted at the University of Western Sydney has developed a violence assessment tool to help nurses and doctors in hospital emergency departments avoid violent attacks from irate patients or visitors.
UWS PhD graduand, Lauretta Luck says STAMP provides an easy to remember checklist that can help staff to defuse escalating situations before they result in a violent episode.
"STAMP stands for Staring and eye contact, Tone and voice volume, Anxiety, Mumbling and Pacing and could be applied in any situation where violent attacks are frequent such as, in hospitals, law enforcement and other community and social services," Ms Luck says.
Busy emergency departments are highly stressful environments for staff, patients and visitors. Patients are treated on a needs basis and this can result in some patients having to wait for long periods to make way for more serious injuries and conditions. For clients or their loved ones this mounting frustration can often escalate into violent episodes whereby frontline staff such as nurses are in the firing line.
"Unfortunately violence towards healthcare staff and other professionals such as police officers and social security staff is an increasing part of daily life and an occupational hazard," Ms Luck says.
Ms Luck spent nearly 300 hours of close observation and in-depth interviews at a busy 33 bed emergency department in a large hospital conducting the study.
Ms Luck found that excessive staring or lack of eye contact was a predictor of potential violence and nurses felt that staring was used to intimidate them into prompter action.
"Tone and sarcasm, volume of voice or mumbling indicates mounting frustration and is another cue for violence," Ms Luck says.
"Increased anxiety exacerbated by patients with conditions such as mental illness, substance misuse, head injuries and dementia and physical indicators such as arm waving, pulling away from treatment and pacing were also indicators warning health care staff of potential violent episodes."
The five month research project was supervised by UWS School of Nursing, Professor Debra Jackson and Professor Kim Usher from James Cook University in Queensland.
STAMP provides all professionals who face hostility in their daily work with a basic framework to predict violent behaviour in their workplace, according to Professor Debra Jackson.
"By using STAMP and recognising the signs early, staff will have the tools and the time they need to diffuse the anxiety and stress which leads to violence," Professor Jackson says.
Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.
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