Untitled Document

CRAG GOOD PRACTICE STATEMENT

"ENGAGING PEOPLE: OBSERVATION OF PEOPLE WITH ACUTE MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS"

In May 2000 the Mental Health & Well-Being Support Group invited CRAG to revise the CRAG Framework for Mental Illness document entitled Nursing Observation of Acutely Ill Psychiatric Patients in Hospital. The original document published in 1995 had been well received by the service and the principles of good practice were largely adopted but some work was required to bring it in line with current clinical practice and policy terminology.

A working group chaired by David Bertin, CPN Manager, Lomond and Argyll Primary Care Trust was established to carry out the review. The group has carried out several consultations to ensure a wide range of opinions and practice are included in the revised report. These included:-

A review of Trust observation protocols
A survey on the impact and barriers to implementing the original good practice statement on observation
A brief survey of service users’ experiences of observation.

The findings from these activities supported the opinion within the group that the original report had strong validity within clinical practice and that the good practice described within it was still largely relevant. The working group identified several key issues requiring attention:-

to move from Observation being seen as a purely Nursing responsibility to a multi-disciplinary model
to clarify the role of relatives and other non-clinicians in observation
to make links to current service issues such as Clinical Governance
to review of relevant literature and clinical practice to establish if a change was required to the 3 levels of Observation
to review and suggest training needs
to highlight the need for observation to be therapeutic
to clarify whose role it is to increase/decrease observation levels

In the process of reviewing the report many NHS staff and patients completed the questionnaires and surveys that the group undertook. David Bertin would like to thank all those who took the time to contribute; these were important exercises that enabled the group to ensure that the views and experience of the service are incorporated into the revised version.

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Last modified: 22 August 2002