Job-related trauma is an area of increasing concern for all mental health professionals. Through a survey to directors of US psychiatry training programs (N = 189), we explored the prevalence of patient-related assaults on residents. During the 2-year study period, the mean number of patient assaults on residents per responding program (n = 61) was 1.26 (SD = 1.8). Most commonly, male rather than female patients were the assaulters. No psychiatric residents left programs or died as a consequence of patient assaults. Patient assaults on psychiatry residents are apparently not an infrequent event during the course of training.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.