title: Transporting Forensic Psychiatric Patients.
abstract: Patients in a forensic psychiatric facility often require escorted transport to medical facilities for investigations or treatments of physical health ailments. Transporting these patients presents significant safety and custody challenges because of the nature of patients housed in forensic psychiatric facilities. A significant proportion of these patients may be transfers from the Department of Corrections (DOC) under legal mandates for psychiatric evaluation and treatment better provided in a hospital setting, and most of them will return to the DOC. Although departments of correction have protocols for escorting these potentially dangerous individuals, it is unclear whether receiving psychiatric hospitals have established procedures for maintaining the safety of others and custody of these individuals during transportation outside the hospital facility. The literature is sparse on precautions to be observed when transporting dangerous forensic psychiatric patients, including those with high escape risk. In this article, we describe one forensic inpatient facility's procedure for determining the appropriate level needed to transport these individuals outside of the forensic facility. We also describe the risk assessment procedure for determining level of transport. These are quality improvement measures resulting from a critical review of an incident of escape from the forensic facility several years ago.
authors.affiliation: Dr. Dike is former Director, Ms. Nicholson is Assistant Director, and Dr. Young is Attending Psychiatrist (Retired), Whiting Forensic Division, Connecticut Valley Hospital, Middletown, CT. Dr. Dike is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Dr. Young is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Law and Psychiatry Division, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT. Dr. Dike is currently Assistant Medical Director, Commissioner's Office, CT Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Hartford, CT. charles.dike@yale.edu.
authors.forename: Charles C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Dike
authors.affiliation: Dr. Dike is former Director, Ms. Nicholson is Assistant Director, and Dr. Young is Attending Psychiatrist (Retired), Whiting Forensic Division, Connecticut Valley Hospital, Middletown, CT. Dr. Dike is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Dr. Young is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Law and Psychiatry Division, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT. Dr. Dike is currently Assistant Medical Director, Commissioner's Office, CT Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Hartford, CT.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nicholson
authors.affiliation: Dr. Dike is former Director, Ms. Nicholson is Assistant Director, and Dr. Young is Attending Psychiatrist (Retired), Whiting Forensic Division, Connecticut Valley Hospital, Middletown, CT. Dr. Dike is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Dr. Young is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Law and Psychiatry Division, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT. Dr. Dike is currently Assistant Medical Director, Commissioner's Office, CT Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Hartford, CT.
authors.forename: John L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Young
mesh_terms: D005555:Forensic Psychiatry; D006801:Humans; D035846:Law Enforcement; D016272:Occupational Health; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014187:Transportation of Patients / Q000458:organization & administration*