A systematic intervention to improve patient information routines and satisfaction in a psychiatric emergency unit

Patients admitted to acute psychiatric hospitalization often report that they are being subject to coercion, irrespective of their official legal status. This experience may be related to a feeling of process exclusion and insufficient information about legal rights. Still, little systematic research has been performed to find effective ways of improving the quality of information presented to the patients and to increase patient satisfaction in a routine clinical setting. The purpose of our study was to systematically record measures of patient satisfaction before, during and after an intervention to improve the information procedures during patient admission. Based on a total of 763 consecutive admissions in an emergency psychiatric ward, 433 completed patient questionnaires were returned, indicating measures of patient satisfaction and factual knowledge in 30 different questions. The patients' general satisfaction scores increased only slightly during and after the intervention, but a robust and sustained improvement of the patients' satisfaction with the information received was recorded. Furthermore, the patients also reported an increased knowledge about specific legal issues related to their hospitalization. As this is an important aspect of patients' rights, we advocate the use of systematic procedures to increase patients' awareness of their legal status and knowledge about procedures in connection with hospitalization.