Types of patients in a psychiatric intensive care unit

Objective: This paper reports the findings of a descriptive study of a patient populationover a three-month period on an eight bed psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) in Western Australia. The report provides a quantitative insight into the profile of patients in PICUs. It provides information on...

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Main Authors: Wynaden, Dianne, McGowan, S., Chapman, Rose, Castle, D., Lau, P., Headford, C., Finn, M.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Taylor & Francis Ltd. 2001
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/22571
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author Wynaden, Dianne
McGowan, S.
Chapman, Rose
Castle, D.
Lau, P.
Headford, C.
Finn, M.
author_facet Wynaden, Dianne
McGowan, S.
Chapman, Rose
Castle, D.
Lau, P.
Headford, C.
Finn, M.
author_sort Wynaden, Dianne
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Objective: This paper reports the findings of a descriptive study of a patient populationover a three-month period on an eight bed psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) in Western Australia. The report provides a quantitative insight into the profile of patients in PICUs. It provides information on patients' diagnoses, presenting signs, symptoms and/or behaviours,legal codes assigned to patients, treatment interventions and management. Method: Data were collected prospectively from August to October 1999. A total of 122 patients were admitted to the PICU during the review period. Data were entered into an Access program then exported to SPSS (Version 9 for Windows) for analysis and frequency distributions were obtained. Results: The results confirmed that the majority of patients admitted to the PICU were assessed as a high level of risk or needed containment. This finding is in line with the admission criteria developed by staff working in the PICU. It also supports the view that staffworking in these units require expertise and confidence to communicate with and manage potentially aggressive and highly aroused patients. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the importance of ongoing evaluations of patient populations in promoting best practice initiatives in psychiatric care.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-225712017-09-13T15:58:25Z Types of patients in a psychiatric intensive care unit Wynaden, Dianne McGowan, S. Chapman, Rose Castle, D. Lau, P. Headford, C. Finn, M. least restrictive environment risk assessment - psychosocial interventions psychiatric intensive care acuity level Objective: This paper reports the findings of a descriptive study of a patient populationover a three-month period on an eight bed psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) in Western Australia. The report provides a quantitative insight into the profile of patients in PICUs. It provides information on patients' diagnoses, presenting signs, symptoms and/or behaviours,legal codes assigned to patients, treatment interventions and management. Method: Data were collected prospectively from August to October 1999. A total of 122 patients were admitted to the PICU during the review period. Data were entered into an Access program then exported to SPSS (Version 9 for Windows) for analysis and frequency distributions were obtained. Results: The results confirmed that the majority of patients admitted to the PICU were assessed as a high level of risk or needed containment. This finding is in line with the admission criteria developed by staff working in the PICU. It also supports the view that staffworking in these units require expertise and confidence to communicate with and manage potentially aggressive and highly aroused patients. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the importance of ongoing evaluations of patient populations in promoting best practice initiatives in psychiatric care. 2001 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/22571 10.1046/j.1440-1614.2001.00953.x Taylor & Francis Ltd. fulltext
spellingShingle least restrictive environment
risk assessment
- psychosocial interventions
psychiatric intensive care
acuity level
Wynaden, Dianne
McGowan, S.
Chapman, Rose
Castle, D.
Lau, P.
Headford, C.
Finn, M.
Types of patients in a psychiatric intensive care unit
title Types of patients in a psychiatric intensive care unit
title_full Types of patients in a psychiatric intensive care unit
title_fullStr Types of patients in a psychiatric intensive care unit
title_full_unstemmed Types of patients in a psychiatric intensive care unit
title_short Types of patients in a psychiatric intensive care unit
title_sort types of patients in a psychiatric intensive care unit
topic least restrictive environment
risk assessment
- psychosocial interventions
psychiatric intensive care
acuity level
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/22571