Rules and ward climate in acute psychiatric setting: Comparison of staff and patient perceptions.
Marta Corbetta, Barbara Corso, Carlo Alberto Camuccio
PMID 35128772WHAT IT FOUND
In four Italian acute psychiatric units, patients scored higher than staff on perceived safety and overall ward climate, except one unit.
More visiting or phone time was linked to better patient safety scores and worse staff safety scores.
Key findings
01Patients rated Experienced safety higher than staff in all four units, and rated total ward climate higher than staff in all but one unit.
02Longer visiting hours were associated with higher patient Experienced safety scores, and more phone-use hours were associated with higher patient Experienced safety and total EssenCES scores.
03Staff reported lower Experienced safety in units with a garden or 24 h/day phone use, but higher Therapeutic hold in those settings.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
All units were in one region of Italy, so the findings may not apply to other settings. The patient and staff samples were small, limiting generalisation. The Italian EssenCES was linguistically validated but not statistically validated, and its use in acute non-forensic psychiatric units had not been thoroughly studied. Some eligible patients and staff declined or did not return questionnaires, and one patient questionnaire was incomplete. The paper gives different totals for questionnaires evaluated and completed, so the exact analysed sample is unclear. The study was observational, so it cannot show that changing a rule caused a change in perceived climate.
Declared interests
The paper states no financial support for the research, authorship, or publication, but also names Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche as funder.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these associations as proof that changing visiting hours or phone rules will improve patient care. The study measured perceptions in four Italian acute psychiatric units and did not test the rules, and staff and patients often rated the same rules in opposite directions.