Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-t5pn6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-20T09:25:20.762Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Study of Psychotropic Medication Given ‘As Required’ in a Regional Secure Unit

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Stuart McLaren ,
Frederick W. A. Browne  and
Pamela J. Taylor
Stuart McLaren*
Affiliation:
Wonford House Hospital, Dryden Road, Wonford, Exeter EX2 5AF, Bethlem Royal Hospital
Frederick W. A. Browne
Affiliation:
Purdysburn Hospital, Belfast, Bethlem Royal Hospital
Pamela J. Taylor
Affiliation:
The Institute of Psychiatry, London, and Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals
*
∗Correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Within the setting of a regional secure unit, all doses of medication given p.r.n. over three months were ascertained and the details of each administration determined from prescription charts and a semistructured interview with the nursing staff involved. Thirty-two patients were resident for all or part of the study, all compulsorily detained. Only 15 were given medication p.r.n.) compared with the other patients they were significantly younger and more likely to be detained under civil orders than under the criminal provisions of the Mental Health Act 1983. Rarely was the medication the sole intervention in a crisis. In terms of effects on the overall treatment programme of the patient, medication given p.r.n. seemed to have an impact in only one small subgroup.

Type
Lecture
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 156 , Issue 5 , May 1990 , pp. 732 - 735
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1990 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Appelbaum, P. S., Jackson, A. H. & Shader, R. I. (1983) Psychiatrists' responses to violence: pharmacologic management of psychiatric inpatients. American Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 301–304.Google ScholarPubMed
Bouras, N., Trauer, T. & Watson, J. P. (1982) Ward environment and disturbed behaviour. Psychological Medicine, 12, 309–319.Google Scholar
Cooper, S. J., Browne, F. W. A., McClean, K. J., et al (1983) Aggressive behaviour in a psychiatric observation ward. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 68, 386–393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fottrell, E. (1980) A study of violent behaviour among patients in a psychiatric hospital. British Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 216–221.Google Scholar
Nie, N. H., Hull, C. H., Jenkins, J. G., et al (1975) SPSS: Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (2nd edn). New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Offen, L. & Taylor, P. J. (1985) Violence and resources: factors determining admission to an interim secure unit. Medicine, Science and the Law, 25, 165–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tardiff, K. (1981) Emergency control measures for psychiatric inpatients. Journal of Nervous Diseases, 169, 614–618.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taylor, P. J. (1986) The risk of violence in psychotics. Integrative Psychiatry, 4, 12–24.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.