Profile of the cases of violence reported in university hospital

Objective: to elucidate the situation of the notification of cases of violence in a university in a university hospital in Recife at the beginning of training actions and professional awareness of this issue. Method: an observational cross-sectional study as conducted. Data collection was done through referrals made to the Social Service of Clinics Hospital of the Federal University of Pernambuco (HC/UFPE), by reports of professional by itself, a recording instrument from the hospital and copies of the notification form of cases. The project was approved by the Ethics Research Center of Health Sciences of the Federal University of Pernambuco/UFPE with protocol number 13/10. All cases were considered of September 2006, when began using the Notification Form from the Ministry of Health until December 2008. Results: the most notification was cases against the child (n=20, 46,51%), while there isn’t registration of cases against the elderly. Professionals who often made the notification were doctors (n=22, 51.16%) and psychologists (n=12, 27,91%). The Notification Form was used in only 41,86% of cases. Conclusion: the data underscore the under-reporting. Further research should verify the cause of poor service (lack of commitment, lack of specific training, among others) so that they can perform actions to make better situation. Descriptors: violence; epidemiology; public health; mandatory reporting.