Encouraging pursuit of court-ordered treatment in a state hospital.
The authors discuss a performance improvement project designed to encourage staff psychiatrists at a large state hospital to more assertively pursue the option of court-ordered treatment for severely mentally ill inpatients who refuse medication for more than a week. A campaign was undertaken in 1997 to educate psychiatrists about the importance of using psychotropic medications early in a patient's hospital stay. A monthly report is now circulated to all personnel identifying units on which patients have refused medication for more than a week and psychiatrists who have filed court petitions. The number of petitions filed annually has doubled, from 97 in the year before the project to 192 four years later.
Patel
M
M
Department of Psychiatry, Finch University of Health Sciences, Chicago Medical School, North Chicago, IL 60064-3095, USA.
Hardy
D W
DW
D003134:Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders; D006293:Health Promotion; D006760:Hospitalization; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006783:Hospitals, State; D006801:Humans; D007603:Jurisprudence; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000627:therapeutic use
D011619:Psychotropic Drugs