ABSTRACT
Working in the community Care in the community is increasingly becoming an option for many patients. Staff who work within this setting often provide care in isolation of others making them vulnerable to increased risk of violence and aggression. 1 For instance, they may work in areas with which they are unfamiliar, and in some neighbourhoods that are dangerous. They are often required to enter a person's home without the ability to pre-assess the environment, and to deal with people that they have met for the first time.2 It is therefore important that community staff fully understand the risks involved in their work and take action to reduce these. Not having the immediate support of colleagues requires additional plan ning and preparation. Essential to this is the ability to assess each situation as if it were new. Extra thought needs to be given over to the issue of safety and security. Community staff need to know that there is a structure in place to help them if they need assistance and that these procedures are able to react to the extraordinary as well as the ordinary.2
