Paper
Saturday, July 24, 2004
This presentation is part of : Mental Health Service Delivery
Safety and Security Procedures in Psychiatric Acute Admission Wards in the Republic of Ireland
Seamus Cowman, PhD, MSc, FFNMRCSI, RGN, RPN, Nursing, Nursing, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin 2, Ireland
Learning Objective #1: Understand the importance of best practice guidelines for safety and security in psychiatric acute admission wards
Learning Objective #2: Appreciate the importance of reviewing work practices and procedures and what precautions are in place to combat the increasing trend of violence in mental health services
Background. Violence and assaultive behaviour is a serious and growing problem in psychiatric services across Ireland and this is consistent with patterns across the world. There is an alarming lack of calrity on matters of procedure and policy pertaining to safety and security in psychiatric hospitals.

Aim. To describe the safety and security measures in psychiatric acute admission wards in the Republic of Ireland and to report on patterns and trends.

Variables. personal safety measures, banned items, alarms, locked doors, searching.

Population. A population study was undertaken which included all psychiatric acute admission wards in the Republic of Ireland.

Methods. A Descriptive survey research design was adopted with the use of a questionnaire for data collection. The questionnaire was analysed using SPSS (version 11) and descriptive statistics were used to present the results.

Findings. Based on the population of psychiatric acute admission wards (N = 43) a response rate of 86% was obtained. Bed numbers across wards ranged from 13 beds to 50 beds. There was wide variation in safety and security practices across the wards. Measures aimed at ensuring staff security were also lacking with no overall acceptable minimal standards discernible.

Conclusions. There is a lack of coherent policy and procedure in safety and security measures across psychiatric acute admission wards in the Republic of Ireland. One has to ask to what extent the disparate practices in safety and security revealed in the results of the study account for the escalation in violent episodes and assaultive behaviour in psychiatric services in recent years.

Implications. There is a need to determine and agree national standards for best practice in safety and security in mental health services.

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