LITERATURE SYNTHESIS: PATIENT AGGRESSION RISK ASSESSMENT TOOLS IN THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT

Multiple risk assessment tools have been developed to prevent violent behavior of patients. The purpose of a risk assessment tool is to prevent injury to health care workers, prevent suicide, and deescalate a patient before a violent act occurs. A risk assessment tool can be used by nurses to identify interventions and to protect themselves or their organization from potential poor decision making and poor outcomes when a violent event occurs. Risk assessment tools have been developed specifically for the emergency department and psychiatric, medical-surgical, and critical care units. Some adaptation of risk assessment tools has happened over the years depending on the setting in which the tool was used, inpatient versus outpatient. An important factor to consider when choosing a risk assessment tool is a review of the literature to determine the validity of the risk assessment tool because often there is no evidence that a particular tool is valid. 1 A non-valid risk assessment tool can actually do more harm than good because the tool might give a worker a false sense of security.