The effectiveness of interventions in the prevention and management of aggressive behaviours in patients admitted to an acute hospital setting: a systematic review

Background: Violence in healthcare has been widely reported and healthcare workers, particularly nurses in the acute care setting, are ill-equipped to manage patients who exhibit aggressive traits. An initial search of the Cochrane Library and the Joanna Briggs Institute did not reveal any published systematic reviews recommending strategies to manage aggressive and/or violent behaviours in patients admitted to an acute hospital setting.----- Objectives: This systematic review aims to establish best practice in the prevention and management of aggressive behaviours in patients admitted to an acute hospital setting.----- Search strategy: A three-step search strategy was utilised during this review. Major databases searched included: MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Health source, Web of science, EMBASE, the Cochrane library and Database of abstracts of reviews of effects (DARE) as well as PubMed. The search included published and unpublished studies and papers in English from 1990-2007.----- Selection criteria: This review considered any randomised controlled trials (RCT) that evaluated the effectiveness of interventions in the prevention and management of patients who exhibit aggressive behaviours in an acute hospital setting. In the absence of RCT's, other research designs such as non-randomised controlled trials and before and after studies were considered for inclusion in the narrative summary to enable the identification of current approaches and possible future strategies for preventing and managing patient aggression in acute care areas.----- Assessment of quality: Each included study was assessed by two independent reviewers using the appropriate appraisal checklist developed by the Joanna Briggs Institute. Data collection and analysis: Data was extracted from the papers included in this review using the standardised data extraction tools from the Joanna Briggs Institute Meta Analysis of Statistics: Assessment and Review Instrument (JBI-MAStARI)package. The studies included in this review were not suitable for meta-analysis and therefore the results are presented in narrative form.----- Results: Twelve studies and one dissertation met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. The evidence identified includes: the benefit of education and training of acute care nurses in aggression management techniques; the use of “as required” medications to minimise harm to patients and staff; and that specific interventions such as music therapy and physical restraint may play a role in managing aggressive and/or violent behaviours from patients in the acute care setting.----- Conclusion: This review makes several recommendations for clinical practice to prevent and manage aggressive behaviours in acute hospital patients. However due to the lack of high quality intervention studies conducted in the acute care setting there is huge scope for future research in this area