Introduction

This book is the result of both extensive academic research and our professional experience. The cognitive exploration of the topic has reinforced our belief that one of the key challenges in building a sustainable healthcare workplace is management action to reduce the phenomenon of aggressive patient behavior. To successfully effect such action, it first requires examining the problem from a variety of angles. The basis, of course, is knowledge of how healthcare systems work. It enables effective identification of areas and situations with a high likelihood of aggressive patient behavior. Second of all, psychological knowledge is vital to understand the most common mechanisms of aggressive behavior. Last but not least, it remains an imperative to be ethically attentive, always remembering that even the most aggressive patient is first and foremost a human being in need of help. Working in an interdisciplinary team, we have tried to take these different points of view into account.