Violence against psychiatric nurses. An untreated epidemic?

1. Psychiatric nurses frequently are targets of assault by their clients. 2. Psychiatric nurses often experience emotional and physical injuries after being assaulted by their clients. 3. An interaction of individual, social-psychological, interpersonal, situational, and sociocultural factors lead to increased rates of workplace assaults by clients. 4. Nursing staff need to take an active role in preventing violent episodes from occurring.