In-patient psychiatric care - What helps? Staff and patient perspectives

Abstract

The issue of consumer satisfaction with psychiatric services is rapidly becoming a mandatory one for service providers. In the present paper we describe a study we conducted into nurses' and patients' views concerning which aspects of in-patient care were most helpful. In contrast to other similar studies we used two different methods of assessing helpfulness. Results showed significant differences between how staff and patients perceived aspects of in-patient care. Patients also showed preferences for “non staff intensive” and “informal” aspects of care. The implications of these findings for in-patient psychiatric care are discussed.