Lovstadskolen

Although rules and regulations within the health system in Norway state that staff have not only the right, but also a duty to restrain behavior which is potentially dangerous to oneself or others, alternatives to the use of force should be the option of choice. Health staff is thus required to take care of a person who is acting aggressively in an emergency situation, in a humane and least restrictive way. Methods to reduce and prevent restraint are legally, ethically and professional required at all levels. On the other hand, staff feeling tense and insecure can easily appear as a threat to the patient and thereby provoke aggressive behavior. Hence, a sense of physical and psychological security is seen as necessary in order to develop a good atmosphere in the relationship between patients and staff. To meet these demands, the program Therapeutic Management of Violence (TMV®) has been developed. It is a nation-wide multichannel, practical approach to prevention and management of violence, experienced as a best-practice method over 30 years. Its best evidence based practice with multimodal interventions includes behavioral components, emotion-targeted components as well as cognitive components. This paper presents the background of TMV, practical examples on the use of TMV, and how a supporting software tool has been used to document the effect of TMV in many institutions and hospitals in Norway over the last 8 years.