Psychiatr. praxi. 2024;25(3):126-130 | DOI: 10.36290/psy.2024.021

Safewards - how to work with conflicts on psychiatric wards

Mgr. Tomáš Petr, Ph.D.¹, Mgr. Jaroslav Pekara, Ph.D.²

¹ Psychiatrické oddělení, Ústřední vojenská nemocnice - Vojenská fakultní nemocnice, Praha

² Vysoká škola zdravotnická, Praha

Psychiatric wards are places where many factors come together that can result in various forms of conflict or unwanted or challenging behaviour. Each conflict has a negative impact on the overall atmosphere of the ward, affecting the experience of staff and their work performance, as well as the patients who naturally perceive the tense atmosphere. The causes of conflicts in psychiatric wards and their triggers have long been the focus of prof. Len Bowers' team in the UK. Researchers have been trying to understand and describe the underlying sources of conflicts on psychiatric wards, their triggers and possible staff responses. Based on extensive research, they then proposed certain interventions aimed at minimising the occurrence of conflicts, adverse events and the use of restraint. The Safewards methodology is currently used in many workplaces in a number of European countries, e.g. Germany, UK, Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden. The experience with its implementation so far has been very positive and the results have been published in many professional journals.

Keywords: conflicts, restraints, prevention.

Accepted: October 2, 2024; Published: November 15, 2024  Show citation