Clinical trial NCT02116439: Evaluation of the Manifestation of Patient Aggresivity in an Emergency Department
Official title: Evaluation of the Manifestation of Patient Aggresivity in an Emergency Department
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Emergency Room
Keywords: Violence
Lead sponsor: Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nīmes
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2014-04-16
Enrollment: 30
Sex: ALL
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: ECOLOGIC_OR_COMMUNITY
Time perspective: PROSPECTIVE
Sampling method: PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Persons manifesting violence (and their victims) according to a pre-determined list of watched-for events will be observed.

Brief summary: The main objective of this study is to determine the average total number of violent events per observation period occurring in the emergency department at the Nîmes University Hospital. The list of violent events is pre-determined and based on a series of interviews with emergency department staff.

Detailed description: This observational study will take place via a representative sample of 90 observation periods. One observation period consists of 7.5 consecutive hours between two team rotations during the day and 10 consecutive hours at night. These observational periods include the moment when health-care teams are debriefed during a shift-change, which we suspect to be a sensitive time point.

Observation periods are randomly selected over a period of 1 year, and stratified for time of day (morning, afternoon, evening), day of the week and month.

The secondary objectives of the observation phase are to identify factors associated with the average number of violent events per work period (number of patients attending the emergency department, time of staff debriefing during shift change, time of day, week or weekend, individual patient characteristics (gender, age, patient or accompanying a patient, waiting time from arrival in the emergency room to emergency consultation, reason for consultation), characteristics of victims of violence, characteristics of the health care team ...)

The anticipated total number of violent events is unknown at the beginning of the study; we indicated '50' as a guess.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Persons manifesting violence according to a pre-determined list of watched-for events will be observed
* The victims of the above-mentioned violence will also be observed and interviewed

Exclusion Criteria:

* Persons not manifesting violence according to a pre-determined list of watched-for events

Primary outcomes:
measure: The number of violent events occuring per work period
timeFrame: Baseline to end of period (maximum of 10 hours)
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Date
timeFrame: Baseline (hour 0)
measure: Day of the week
timeFrame: Baseline (hour 0)
measure: Time at the beginning of the observation period
timeFrame: Baseline (hour 0)
measure: Number of male nurses present in the department
timeFrame: Baseline to end of observation period (maximum 10 hours)
measure: Number of female nurses present in the department
timeFrame: Baseline to end of observation period (maximum 10 hours)
measure: Number of nursing assistants present in the department
timeFrame: Baseline to end of observation period (maximum 10 hours)
measure: Number of doctors present in the department
timeFrame: Baseline to end of observation period (maximum 10 hours)
measure: Number of patients present in the department
timeFrame: Baseline (hour 0)
measure: Number of accompaning persons (bringing in patients) present in the department
timeFrame: Baseline (hour 0)
measure: Number of accompaning persons (bringing in patients) present in the waiting room
timeFrame: Baseline (hour 0)
measure: Number of patients present in the department
timeFrame: End of observation period (maximum 10 hours)
measure: Number of accompaning persons (bringing in patients) present in the department
timeFrame: End of observation period (maximum 10 hours)
measure: Number of accompaning persons (bringing in patients) present in the waiting room
timeFrame: End of observation period (maximum 10 hours)
measure: Time of day at the beginning of a staff debriefing during a shift change.
timeFrame: During an observation period (maximum 10 hours)
measure: Time of day at the end of a staff debriefing during a shift change.
timeFrame: During an observation period (maximum 10 hours)
measure: Time at the beginning of a violent event
timeFrame: During an observation period (maximum 10 hours)
measure: Time at the end of a violent event
timeFrame: During an observation period (maximum 10 hours)
measure: Was the event correctly declared according to current procedures? yes/no
timeFrame: During an observation period (maximum 10 hours)
measure: Sex (m/f)
timeFrame: During an observation period (maximum 10 hours)
measure: Is the person a patient or a person accompanying a patient?
timeFrame: During an observation period (maximum 10 hours)
measure: Reason why the patient is coming to the emergency department.
timeFrame: During an observation period (maximum 10 hours)
measure: Time (delay) patient has been waiting before manifestation of violence.
timeFrame: During an observation period (maximum 10 hours)
measure: Age (years)
timeFrame: During an observation period (maximum 10 hours)
measure: Sex (m/f)
timeFrame: During an observation period (maximum 10 hours)
measure: Years of work experience
timeFrame: During an observation period (maximum 10 hours)
measure: Professional category
timeFrame: During an observation period (maximum 10 hours)
measure: Presence/absence of difference in what was observed and what the victim remembers
timeFrame: 72 hours after a violent event
measure: Violence severity scale
timeFrame: During an observation period (maximum 10 hours)
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Nîmes Cedex 09
country: France
facility: CHRU de Nîmes - Hôpital Universitaire Carémeau
Study officials:
affiliation: CHRU de Nîmes - Hôpital Universitaire Carémeau
name: Muriel Chazel
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: