Post-Event Strategies for Workplace Violence Affecting Hospital Staff: A Scoping Review

Aims: To map the evidence on post-incident strategies for workplace violence in global hospital settings, define current literature gaps and provide direction for future research.
Design: Scoping review guided by Joanna Briggs Institute methodology.
Methods: A narrative synthesis, framed by the Haddon Matrix, categorised post-violence strat-egies by focus on staff (victims), aggressors (vectors), or the physical/social environment.
Data sources: Six databases (MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Health Management Information Consortium) and Google Scholar were searched in January 2024.
Results: Twenty-seven articles were included. Post-violence strategies addressed: (1) staff support through debriefs and psychological, clinical and procedural assistance; (2) behaviour management, individualised plans, alerts and accountability measures for aggressors; and (3) system-level responses via incident investigations, feedback processes and integrated monitor-ing. These strategies were typically embedded within larger multicomponent workplace vio-lence programmes, with limited disaggregation of their specific effects.
Conclusion: The evidence base for tertiary prevention of workplace violence remains sparse. Most articles in this review equated success with violence reduction, reflecting a traditional (Safety-I) focus on risk mitigation, with limited attention to broader outcomes such as staff per-ceptions of safety or job-related affect. This underscores the need for a clearer focus on the mechanisms by which such interventions are expected to create change, providing an oppor-tunity to refine theory and practice.
Implications for the profession and/or patient care: The post-violence period offers a key juncture for mitigating incidents’ ripple effects. As frontline staff are often the primary ‘recipi-ents’ of interventions, future research and service improvement initiatives should focus more closely on outcomes relevant to staff experiences.
Impact: Incorporating a Safety-II perspective, which emphasises resilience and adaptive per-formance, could enable hospitals to strengthen ongoing operational capabilities in the aftermath of violence and help to redress the conditions that facilitate its recurrence.
Reporting Method: PRISMA-ScR.
Patient or Public Contribution: None.