Effect of Aggression Management Care Bundle

Psychopathology plays an important role in the emergence of aggression. Having a diagnosis of psychotic disorder or schizophrenia is an important psychopathology that leads to aggression. For these reasons, aggression and how to manage it is an ongoing problem in psychiatric clinics. The prevalence of aggressive behavior in psychiatric wards varies between 8-76%. The prevalence of aggression in schizophrenia patients is stated as 33.3%. This aggression can be verbal, directed towards objects/spaces, towards oneself or physical aggression towards others. Healthcare professionals in psychiatric wards are exposed to these aggressive events carried out by patients. It is reported that 25-85% of healthcare professionals working in psychiatric wards are exposed to aggressive events; the prevalence of aggression towards nurses varies between 11.4-97.6%. Over the years, some methods have been developed and used to manage aggression in psychiatric wards. Chemical and mechanical restraint and seclusion methods are still the leading methods used. There is a need for alternative and evidence-based interventions based on therapeutic nursing approaches to manage aggression in psychiatric wards, which can be easily adopted and implemented in the clinic. Therefore, it was aimed to develop and use the "care bundle" approach, which has been shown to improve patient outcomes in the literature, for aggression management in psychiatric wards. Care bundles are care tools that target a specific patient population, consist of 3-5 evidence-based approaches, and improve patient outcomes when used together. In this study, it was planned to develop the aggression management care package in phase 1, and evaluate the clinical use of the aggression management care bundle in phase 2. The aggression management care bundle was developed following the guidelines of The Institute for Healthcare Improvement.