Violence Prevention Community Meeting Conducted on Your Unit.

The Violence Prevention Community Meeting (VPCM) is to reduce violence on inpatient psychiatry units, and has been written about elsewhere. The purpose of this article is to explain how other nurses can implement a similar meeting in their work setting. Details of different aspects of the VPCM are provided including the purpose, administrative support role of patients and staff, and the content and process of the VPCM. The reader is presented with several different scenarios about assault. The VPCM is an innovative, group-based treatment, administered by nursing staff members. Goals of the VPCM are to promote a shared culture of safety and respect among patients and nursing staff, and freedom for patients and staff from being targets, perpetrators, or witnesses of verbal or physical violence.