HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS British Journal of Psychiatry Advances in Psychiatric Treatment All RCPsych Journals		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Google Scholar Articles by Khalifa, N. Articles by Duggan, C. PubMed Articles by Khalifa, N. Articles by Duggan, C.

Police and sniffer dogs in psychiatric settings

^*Section of Forensic Mental Health, Division of Psychiatry, University of Nottingham, Duncan Macmillan House, Porchester Road, Nottingham NG3 6AA, email: najat.khalifa{at}nottingham.ac.uk

Simon Gibbon, Clinical Lecturer in Forensic Psychiatry

Division of Psychiatry, University of Nottingham

Conor Duggan, Head of the Forensic Mental Health Section

Division of Psychiatry, University of Nottingham

Declaration of interest

None. Funding detailed in Acknowledgements.

AIMS AND METHOD

To study the views of staff and patients on the use of sniffer dogs to detect illicit drugs and the prosecution of in-patients suspected of taking illicit drugs. A 15-item self-report questionnaire was given to all in-patients and staff who had any contact with patients in a medium-secure unit. Responses to the individual statements were measured on a five-point Likert scale and staff and patients’ responses were compared.

RESULTS

We achieved a response rate of 63% (patient response rate, 71.6%; staff response rate, 60.7%). Overall there were fewer differences than anticipated, although, as expected, staff viewed the impact of illicit drugs more negatively than patients, and on the other hand, patients viewed the use of sniffer dogs and police involvement more negatively than the staff did.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

Notice ought to be taken of the discordance between staff and patients’ views (particularly in relation to consent and confidentiality) when attempting to detect and manage illicit drug use among psychiatric in-patients.