FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the ABRATTM ?
The Aggressive Behavior Risk Assessment Tool (ABRATTM) is an easy-to-use brief check list for identifying patients at risk of violent behavior. It is based on real-world patient data and has been validated with satisfactory sensitivities and specificities in published studies.
2. How does ABRATTM work?
ABRATTM takes into account current patient behaviors that can be assessed very quickly, as well as past patient history. Each item has a weighting value and the EHR automatically calculates the summation score for each patient immediately. Most patients have low scores indicating low risks of violence. However, a small percentage of patients would have medium or high scores that indicate modest or high risks of violent behaviors, triggering low-cost interventions, such as signage posting near the patient. Signage posting serves as a constant reminder to enhance situational awareness and practice staff safety training, such as removing sharp or heavy objects from the room, staying near the door, talking and moving slowly and calmly, and promptly satisfying patient’s needs. In EDs and non-psychiatric hospital inpatients, the combination of ABRATTM and targeted interventions for patients at risk of violence resulted in real-world violence prevention as well as reductions in physical assaults. ABRATTM is the only screening tool that has shown real-world violence prevention in three clinical settings, including adolescents visiting EDs.
3. What are ABRATTM-ED, ABRATTM-H, and ABRATTM-EMS?
| Feature | ABRATTM-ED | ABRATTM-H | ABRATTM-EMS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Setting | Emergency-Department Patients | Non-psychiatric Hospital Inpatients | Pre-hospital Patients Served by Paramedics, EMTs, Transport Teams |
| Purpose | Identify the few patients at risk for violence during triage for targeted interventions | Identify the few patients at risk for violence on admission or transfer (and for several days) for targeted interventions | Identify the few patients for violence risk before and during patient transport to ensure responder and patient safety. |
| Items | Four behavioral items, two history items and one ED visit reasons | Four behavioral items, two history items | Three behavioral items |
| Scoring | “Yes” or “No” checklist, each “Yes” item is weighted and summed automatically by EHR | “Yes” or “No” checklist, each “Yes” item is weighted and summed automatically by EHR | “Yes” or “No” checklist, each “Yes” item is weighted and summed automatically by app |
| Validation Status | Tool Validated & Shown to Prevent Violent Events and Physical Assaults | Tool Validated & Shown to Prevent Violent Events and Physical Assaults | Tool Validated with Satisfactory Sensitivity and Specificity |
4. What is the VESTTM ?
The Violent Event Severity Tool (VESTTM) is an easy-to-use tool that helps EDs and hospitals collect violent event types and severities in a standardized fashion. The tool includes validated definitions for both types and severities in compliance with The Joint Commission (TJC) and governing body requirements. TJC requires implementation of violence prevention programs and regular evaluations for hospital accreditations. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) requires violence prevention for reimbursements.
5. Are these tools proven through research?
Yes, these tools have been validated through scientific studies and published in leading journals. ABRATTM-ED and ABRATTM-H have shown to help prevent patient violence in 3 different settings by identifying the few patients at risk of violence, which allowed targeted low cost interventions.
6. How do these tools connect with hospital EHR systems?
They are built to be added directly into electronic health record (EHR) systems, so nurses and staff can use them as part of normal documentation.
7. How do hospitals act on ABRATTM results?
If a patient scores high on ABRATTM indicating risk of violence, staff can post signage which serves as a constant reminder to enhance situational awareness and practice staff safety training, such as removing sharp or heavy objects from the room, staying near the door, talking and moving slowly and calmly, and promptly satisfying patient’s needs.
8. What results have hospitals seen?
In one major study, violent events dropped significantly by about 27 percent in emergency departments that used ABRATTM and VESTTM tools. For adolescent patients visiting EDs, the violent events decreased by 33%. Similar results have been observed in non-psychiatric inpatient population.
9. How does VESTTM help with compliance?
VEST helps hospitals follow the Joint Commission’s standards on workplace violence prevention and data reporting.
10. How can a hospital start using these tools?
Tools can be utilized for nominal license fee. Please contact:
Kenneth Martin
VP, Sales & Business Development
Son Chae Kim, PhD, LLC
760.330.1630
