Involuntary commitment: implication for psychiatric nursing practice

Abstract

The characteristics of involuntary psychiatric commitment (IPI) may cause implications on the nursing/patient relationship. The objectives of this study were to list the forms of nursing care delivered to psychiatric patients, according to the type of commitment; analyze the reaction of the nursing team towards the IPI patient, and discuss on the implications that IPI have on the practice o psychiatric nursing. A field research was performed with the nursing team of a psychiatric institution in Rio de Janeiro. After 50 hours of participant observation and 9 of focal group meetings, we found that the teams are concerned with the clinical evolution of the patients. No references of the nursing team to the IPI patient were observed. There are no records or actions of any kind that would suggest a specific look towards this type of patient. Nursing professionals are not able to clearly identify this type of patient, thus the care is provided as per the patient's needs or requests.