Workplace violence (WPV) in healthcare has become a major global issue, and healthcare workers are being exposed to increasing and unacceptable levels of workplace violence, particularly in the emergency departments and inpatient units. To address this problem, we have developed the Aggressive Behavior Risk Assessment Tool (ABRAT) as a screening tool to allow targeted violence prevention since 2010.  Over the decade and a half, the tool has been fine-tuned for various settings, including non-psychiatric inpatient care, emergency departments, long-term care homes, and pre-hospital settings.

Recently, we have shown consistent evidence of reductions in violence using ABRAT and targeted preventive interventions across 3 populations in two independent organizations. Although the current study is not a randomized controlled trial, ABRAT has the best evidence currently available for the effectiveness of violence prevention across 3 populations. ABRAT is now listed in the Joint Commission WPV prevention program resources webpage (Validated EHR Embedded Tools for Workplace Violence Prevention in Healthcare).