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Biomedical subjects

R U'Ren

Publications and source records attributed to R U'Ren.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

Indicators of quality of in-patient psychiatric treatment: the patients' view.

OBJECTIVES: The object of this study was to find out from psychiatric in-patients which aspects of care and treatment they considered important and how satisfied they were with these. DESIGN: One hundred and ninety-four in-patients were asked to rate the importance of, and their satisfaction with, 22 different aspects of in-patient care and treatment. The questionnaire, developed for the purpose of the study after a pilot phase including professional care givers and patients, contained 92 items and was returned by 52% of all discharged patients from the Psychiatric university hospital during a 3-month period. RESULTS: Patients made a clear distinction between aspects of treatment they considered important and aspects they were satisfied with. Ranked of highest importance were various therapeutic relationships, and respect for their rights and privileges. They were satisfied with their relationships with clinical staff but dissatisfied with medication. CONCLUSION: A well differentiated assessment of importance and satisfaction has implications for the evaluation of the quality of psychiatric care, for specific methods of treatment, and for the improvement of in-patient psychiatric care.

Health Services Research↗
PubMed2003

Psychiatric commitment: patients' perspectives.

OBJECTIVE: The literature pertaining to patients' perceptions of commitment and its consequences is limited. The object of this study was to learn more about these experiences from the patient's perspective. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 108 court-committed patients (78% of whom were schizophrenic) were identified for inclusion in a retrospective follow-up study. After an interval varying from one to 4.5 years from time of commitment to follow-up, 76 patients could be contacted, of whom 47 were included in the follow-up. RESULTS: The majority of patients felt that their court commitment had not been justified and could have been avoided. Events and circumstances identified as particularly stressful about commitment were confinement in a locked ward, side effects of medication, feelings of helplessness, and certain staffbehaviors. Adverse psychological, somatic, and social consequences were common. Coercive measures during hospitalization were strongly associated with negative feelings about the effect of commitment on mental health and about subsequent treatment. The majority, however, also remained in treatment after commitment was terminated, said they would return to hospital in event of future crisis, and had pertinent comments about how commitment could have been avoided. CONCLUSIONS: Many patients who had been court-committed reported negative feelings about their experiences, but the great majority had continued in treatment, both at the termination of commitment and later. They also had ideas about how to reduce the negative impact of commitment that are worth including in future contingency plans.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Chronic psychiatric patients without psychiatric care: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND: The study is based on the hypothesis that in any catchment area there are patients with chronic mental illness who are unknown to a comprehensive psychiatric/psychosocial care system. METHOD: A standardized questionnaire was sent to all general practitioners in a circumscribed catchment area in southwestern Germany in an attempt to identify such a group, to ascertain what the practitioners considered to be the needs of these patients, and to find out why the patients were not receiving specialized psychiatric care. RESULTS: Of 97 general practitioners contacted, 62 returned the questionnaire. Within a study period of 3 months, 89 patients were identified as having a significant psychiatric disorder, of whom 53% were older than 60 years and 15% were schizophrenic. General practitioners most frequently said that provision of specialized psychiatric care was the most pressing need of these patients, followed by a need for psychosocial services. They also said that the major reason patients did not participate in the mental health system was patient refusal of such services. CONCLUSIONS: Having identified the existence of a group of chronic psychiatric patients who are not receiving specialized psychiatric care, further in-depth field studies to pursue some of the issues raised in this pilot study will be necessary to determine whether further efforts to reach psychiatric patients without defined psychiatric care would be worthwhile. These issues include estimates of the prevalence of such patients in a defined population, patients' more specific reasons for refusal of psychiatric care, and the quality of psychiatric care they receive from general practitioners in comparison with patients who receive more conventional psychiatric care.

Adult↗