Ethnic Disparities in Clinical Decision-Making for Rapid Tranquillisation in Adult Forensic Mental Health Inpatient Settings: A Qualitative Study.

Only a small number of cases were analysed, so the findings may not capture all patterns of decision-making. The cases came from one forensic service in Denmark, so they may not apply to other countries or settings. The analysis used only written records, so it could not show what staff thought or did when it was not documented. Ethnicity was grouped only by country of birth, which may hide differences within the minority and majority groups. For people with repeated episodes, only the earliest episode was used, so later escalation patterns were not analysed. The team had no prior clinical contact with these individuals, which may have limited understanding of local context. No direct quotes were included to protect anonymity, which may reduce detail in the findings.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation supported the work of one author, but the funder had no role in design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, writing, or submission. One author also received grants from FOSTREN.

Do not read this as proof that ethnic minorities are more often given rapid tranquillisation. The recorded medication, route, and restraint patterns were broadly similar. The difference was in process: shorter warning, less documented negotiation and planning, and less debriefing after forced sedation.