title: Management of potentially violent detainees.
abstract: Most doctors and other health care workers have at some time received threats of violence, but the assessment of police detainees can be especially challenging and in a recent study of police surgeons, 18% had experienced physical violence. Aggression towards carers rarely erupts without warning and there is much that the examining doctor can do to minimize personal risk. This review offers a brief overview of current understanding about the causes of violence and offers guidance on the systematic assessment of risk and how to manage this within the setting of a clinical assessment of a detained individual.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, London SE5 8AF, UK.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Johns
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Clarke
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Stark