Outcome of involuntary medication in a state hospital system

Article Abstract:

The records of 51 involuntarily medicated in-patients from six state hospitals in New York City (1985) were examined and compared with those of 51 patients from the same wards who voluntarily took their prescribed medication. The clinical course for all 102 patients was then followed-up for a full year. The state hospital system in New York City reserves the use of involuntary medication for patients who persistently refuse medication and who are considered to be dangerous either to themselves or others. During the year the study was conducted, the average length of stay for state hospital patients was 52 days. However, the average patient medicated involuntarily had already been hospitalized for approximately one and one-half years. The involuntarily medicated patients were found to be significantly less delusional than patients who voluntarily took medication at the end of the follow-up period. Forced medication did not result in a rapid return to the community or in eventual compliance with a prescribed medication regimen for the majority of patients in the study. No differences were found between voluntary and involuntary groups in terms of rates of discharge, outpatient cooperation or relapse. Findings indicate that it may be wise to look at alternatives for the long-term management of dangerous, noncompliant patients. Although forced medication may often be a necessary short-term, in-hospital management strategy, it does not replace the need for long-term community-based management approaches which might encourage the involvement of dangerous patients in their own treatment regimens. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Social aspects, Care and treatment, Dosage and administration, Psychotropic drugs, Psychiatric hospital patients, Psychopharmacology

---

Leaders of reform: equity, quality, outcomes, and partnerships

Article Abstract:

Mary Jane England, 124th pres. of the American Psychiatric Assn. (APA), assesses organizational achievement from 1991 to 1996. Within the last six years, APA has stabilized its financial status, published the fourth 'Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders,' held a major leadership conference, and led the direction toward a more comprehensive mental health care. England also reiterates the call for equal health care in the US.

Associations, Psychiatrists, Speeches, lectures and essays, Transcript, American Psychiatric Association, England, Mary Jane

---

Similar abstracts:

• Abstracts: Evaluation of a Mental Illness Awareness Week program in public schools. Private and public psychiatry: a comparison of two health care systems
• Abstracts: Role of cigarette use in hyponatremia in schizophrenic patients. Sensory input deficits and negative symptoms in schizophrenic patients
• Abstracts: Contributions of clinical neuropsychology to the study of schizophrenia. Relation of neuroleptic and anticholinergic medication to cognitive functions in schizophrenia
• Abstracts: Progression of illness in the differential diagnosis of primary dementia. Neuropathological findings in patients with clinical diagnoses of probable Alzheimer's disease
• Abstracts: Frequency and correlates of childhood sexual and physical abuse histories in adult female borderline inpatients. part 2

This website is not affiliated with document authors or copyright owners. This page is provided for informational purposes only. Unintentional errors are possible.