Organisational interventions for preventing and minimising aggression directed towards healthcare workers by patients and patient advocates

In this Cochrane systematic review, researchers assessed the effectiveness of organizational interventions to prevent and minimize workplace aggression directed toward health care workers by patients and patient advocates.

Researchers found very low to low‐quality evidence that interventions focused on the vector during the pre‐event phase, the event phase, or both may result in a reduction of overall aggression, compared to practice as usual. They also found inconsistent low‐quality evidence for multi‐component interventions. None of the interventions included the post‐event stage.

To improve the evidence base, more randomized controlled studies are needed that include workers as participants and collect information on the impact of violence on workers in a range of health care settings, but especially in emergency care settings. Consensus on standardized outcomes is urgently needed.