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Accidents and Drug Treatment in a Psychiatric Hospital

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Brian R. Ballinger
Affiliation:
Drug Monitoring Unit, Royal Dundee Liff Hospital, Liff by Dundee, DD2 5NF, Scotland
Anna C. Ramsay
Affiliation:
Drug Monitoring Unit, Royal Dundee Liff Hospital, Liff by Dundee, DD2 5NF, Scotland

Summary

A survey of 351 accidents occurring in a two-year period in a psychiatric hospital showed that 77 per cent of the accidents involved female patients and 48 per cent involved patients with organic psychoses; 236 accidents were falls and 280 occurred in the ward setting.

In 277 instances adequate controls were available. Seventy-five per cent of the accident patients had received a psychotropic drug on the day of the accident as opposed to 61 per cent of the controls. The possibility that the side-effects of psychotropic drugs may have contributed to some of these accidents is discussed.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1975 

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References

Jefferson, J. W. (1974) Hypotension from drugs. Diseases of the Nervous System, 35, 6671.Google Scholar
Manyam, N. V. B. & MacKinnon, H. H. (1973) Patient, bed and bathroom. Nova Scotia Medical Bulletin, 52, 23–5.Google Scholar
Shader, R. I. & Dimascio, A. (1970) Psychotropic Drug Side-effects. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins.Google Scholar
Walker, M. F. C., Haden, P. & Lawson, J. S. (1972) Fractures in a mental hospital. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 106, 1213.Google Scholar
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