assaults to nursing staff in psych hospitals

[janne]

I am a graduate student doing research on patient assualts/violence in the inpatient psych. unit to determine if there is a relationship between patient/ staff ratios and assualts. Anybody have information on staffing patterns for psych

[kate]

Are you referring to R.N./pt. ratio, or technician/pt. ratio?

[dmnurss]

I would really be interested hearing what sorts of ratios people are actually working with out there. It is my experience that the number of staff to patients really dosen't seem to affect the actual safety on the unit. Where I have worked most serious incidents happened with the most staff - it is more often the quality of the individuals. By that I do not mean educational level or title, I mean demeanor, caring and experience level. If you want actual numbers I could estimate that for you. We have a staffing grid that is ideal but almost never realized.

[healer_energy]

I am glad you mentioned this. Although I am studying psych nursing I work in a late stage Alzheimer's unit and I can see quite clearly looking just at the behavior's documentation a definite spike in incidents when certain nurses are working there. They are nervous and frightened and have loud voices and jerky movements as they order the staff around.