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Re-evaluation of the role of trainee psychiatrists in secluding general adult psychiatric patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

M. F. Okhai*
Affiliation:
St Martin's Hospital, Littlebourne Road, Canterbury CT1 1AZ
P. M. McLaren
Affiliation:
UMDS Division of Psychiatry and Psychology, Guy's Hospital, SE1 9RT
*
Correspondence
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Abstract

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The seclusion of general adult psychiatric patients is still a common nursing Intervention of questionable therapeutic benefit. It is often initiated as a last resort to maintain safety where there are staff shortages. Historically concerns over the abuse of this procedure led to the Involvement of medical staff to oversee or monitor the procedure and this practice has become fossilised in the seclusion policies of many trusts. This paper argues that the routine involvement of trainee psychiatrists in this procedure, for which they are rarely trained, is archaic, impairs inter-professional relationships and should be regarded as an inappropriate duty.

Type
Trainees Forum
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

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