employees and to prevent incidents. Practical instructions for dealing with and documenting violence should also be devised. In addition, further training is advisable on suitable procedures in critical situations, such as deescalation. For violence prevention in the long term, it is also helpful to record incidents of violence centrally and to evaluate them on a regular basis. This makes it possible to identify developments over a long period of time and, if necessary, to take countermeasures. doctor who prescribed the medication was not recorded, thereby removing the possibility of targeted consultations. Shortcomings in the documentation of medication can jeopardise the patients’ right to physical and psychological integrity. All documentation of medication must make clear when each specific medicine was prescribed and the name of the doctor who prescribed it. It should also specify when the medicine should be distributed or administered as well as the required dosage. Similarly, orders by a physician to discontinue a particular medication must also be clearly documented. Entries should always be signed by the person documenting the information. 2.2.12 – Protection against infection In some facilities, it was observed that the nursing staff’s protective clothing was dirty. Indeed, some staff members in the facilities visited wore no protective clothing at all, even though this was required for carrying out certain care measures. Furthermore, in two of the facilities visited, several residents carried 47 bacteria such as MRSA or Clostridia. Despite this, the protective measures required in such situations were not properly implemented. In light of the practices observed, there is a danger that employees could spread germs and that, as a result, residents are not adequately protected from infections. In many cases, facilities did not meet the additional requirements for documenting needsbased medication, as they did not clearly document the reason why the medication was required. For instance, some of the scenarios cited as requiring psychotropic medication included “in case of anxiety”, “for unusual behaviour” or “if needed”. As for the needsbased administration of painkillers, information such as “for pain” or “for any kind of pain” was provided. In two cases, it was stated that painkillers are administered for up to five days before a doctor is called if the pain persists. In one case, the documentation for a particular resident specified three types of psychotropic drugs as being needs-based. The resident had brought this medication with her upon admission, but had not needed it at all since then. There were therefore doubts as to whether this medication was still necessary, and whether the stated application would still be appropriate if the need arises in the future. Facilities must take measures to ensure effective protection against infection. 2.2.13 – Medication In many of the visited facilities, shortcomings were found with regard to the provision of medicine. These concerned the documentation of medication, the legality of medication and the administration of medicines. Documentation If information regarding the reasons for needsbased medication is missing or inaccurate, it is left to the on-duty caregivers to decide whether a particular situation warrants the administration of such medication. Prescribing pharmaceutical products and specifying when they ought to be used are the responsibility of a doctor. To ensure that needs-based prescription medication is administered in accordance with the therapy intended by the doctor, both the prescription and the associated documentation must be unambiguous. Facilities should strive to meet the requirements for prescribing needs-based Shortcomings were repeatedly found with regard to the clarity and completeness of documentation. The prescription date, for example, would often be missing or overwritten, making it unclear from which date the prescription was valid. Furthermore, the discontinuation of medication was not fully documented in some cases, which made it impossible to gain an overview of the current situation. In several other cases, the name of the 47 Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus 43