Violence in clinical forensic medicine.
OBJECTIVE
to investigate the levels of physical and verbal violence experienced in the preceding year by doctors working in clinical forensic medicine.


METHODS
anonymised questionnaire sent to all full members of the Association of Police Surgeons.


RESULTS
517 eligible questionnaires were returned; 18.2 per cent of respondents had experienced physical violence, a total of 150 incidents. Of those incidents 'warning signs' of violence had been present in only 25 per cent. A total of 54 working days were lost. Injuries included a fractured wrist and corneal scarring. Of the respondents, 65.5 per cent had experienced verbal violence (of which the most common type was obscenity); 11.8 per cent had received training in dealing with verbal violence and 10.4 per cent in dealing with physical violence; 88 per cent believed that training on how to deal with violence should be part of police surgeon/forensic medicine training.


CONCLUSIONS
verbal and physical violence are common in clinical forensic medicine. Training in dealing with these issues should be introduced.
Schnieden
V
V
Department of Psychological Medicine, University College Hospital, London.
Stark
M
M
Payne-James
J
J
D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D005260:Female; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000193:education; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D006113:United Kingdom; D014754:Violence / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data