Risk factors for coercion length at psychiatric hospitals in Israel: Relationship with staff.

Abstract

Coercive interventions continue to be applied frequently in psychiatric care when patients are at imminent risk of harming themselves and/or others. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the relationship between the length of coercion and a variety of factors, including the sociodemographic background of patients, their diagnoses and the characteristics of hospital staff. This is a one-year cross-sectional retrospective study, including records of 298 patients who underwent restraint and/or seclusion interventions in male acute, closed wards in two psychiatric hospitals in Israel. A higher proportion of academic nurses to nonacademic nurses on duty leads to a shorter coercion time (P < 0.000). The number of male staff on duty, without any relation to their level of education, also leads to the shortening of the coercion time. The presence of registered, academic female nurses, male staff on duty and the administration of medication before coercive measures can reduce the length of restriction.