How locked entrance doors at psychiatric wards are experienced by staff working on these wards has been investigated to a very limited extent.
Phych hospital locked doors.
A locked door may make the ward appear as both a prison and a sanctuary.
That s how it felt to walk through the hospital door and enter the psychiatric ward for the first time.
Psychiatric staff sometimes needs to protect patients from harming themselves or others.
If a patient learns that certain hours are for working and others are for sleeping it may assist the patient in more independent living.
A little bit surreal.
Locked door policies in mental health hospitals are no better than open doors at preventing patient suicide or unauthorised absence according to a study.
The first time i entered those doors was 14 years ago i was just 16 and hiding under a very thin white blanket while seated in a wheelchair.
It found treating people with mental ill health in hospitals with locked wards as opposed to hospitals without locked wards does not reduce their risk of suicide attempts or of absconding.
My parents escorted through the doors.
To keep the entrance door locked may help staff to achieve this goal.
Locked doors in psychiatric hospitals do not seem to improve the safety of patients.