Patient Assaults on Psychiatry Residents: Results of a National Survey

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.