Suicide and self-harm in inpatient psychiatric units: a national survey ofobservation policies

There is little empirical literature on observation as a psychiatric nursin g procedure to prevent patients from harming themselves or others. National guidelines for this practice do not exist, with a consequence that local p olicies might be variable in content and quality. This paper reports a nati onal survey of observation policies and usage based upon a stratified rando m sample of 27 psychiatric inpatient service providers in England and Wales . Extreme variation in terminology and practice was encountered. The termin ological confusion is likely to reduce nurses' clarity about their responsi bilities and increase risks to patients. Further variation exists from plac e to place as to whether, and to what extent, student nurses and family mem bers should be entrusted with the responsibility to observe patients. More than one in 10 services of the sample still have no written observation pol icy, and four in 10 have no clinical recording system of the procedure in p lace. Nurses commonly amend the procedure and terminology on an ad hoc basi s. The results of this survey confirm that the Department of Health should set national standards for the policies and procedures for patient observat ion and that as an interim step practice guidance should be issued to all n urses land other mental health workers) involved in this procedure.