Case Study: Mental Health Unit Restraint Reduction Training

How Dynamis helped a mental health unit achieve a 90% reduction in mechanical restraint use and a 95% staff satisfaction rating, while meeting JCIA international standards. The Setting This was an ‘open’ psychiatric unit with separate male and female wards, delivering services in a highly multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-national environment. The unit faced the daily challenge […]

Throwback Thursday: Restraint Chair in Oman

During a trip to the middle east back in 2010 to visit with a number of psychiatric institutions and hospitals to give advice and training, I recall being shown the ‘restraint chair’ in the picture at one of the units I visited.  I remember being quite surprised at the sight.   Even though I was aware of […]

Hospital Violence Reduction – Ambassador Programmes

Hospital Violence Programmes and the provision of Information to provide Clarity On entering A&E people want more information on the following: initial expected waiting times;  changes to expected waiting times;  reasons for changes (for example, intake of serious road traffic accidents);  alternatives to A&E (where they can get treatment instead);  their condition and priority in […]

Hospital Violence Reduction – Internal Security Officers

Hospital Violence Reduction — Internal Security Officers Staff in one hospital we worked in reported to us that they had variable success in securing assistance from Security Guards when incidents become critical. We ourselves experienced communication difficulties — mainly a language barrier — with Security Guards several times during our visit, which may contribute to […]

Pharmacist calls customer a retard – Verbal Defense and Influence

For contact professionals, it is imperative that — regardless of the circumstances — they maintain their professional face when operating in their professional capacity. When a person lets slip their professional presentation to the world, the results can be career-limiting in the extreme. A Cautionary Tale This recent story is an unfortunate example of what […]

Hospital Violence Reduction – Organisational Commitment

Leadership Commitment to the Hospital Violence Reduction Project Sometimes in the hospitals we visit, nursing staff do not feel that they have the full support of the organisation in managing incidents of violence or aggression in their work — even though there is an active Hospital Violence Reduction Project in play. This is underlined by […]

Care Home Safe Holding: Preventing Stress-Related Behaviours in Care of Older People

Preventing Stress-Related Behaviours in Care of Older People The best vantage point for understanding behaviour is from the internal reference frame of the individual himself.— Rogers (1951) When caring for a person with dementia who is having difficulty communicating, staff are encouraged to remember that residents will pick up on negative body language such as […]

Hospital Violence Reduction – Permission to Intervene

Hospital Violence Reduction: Permission to Intervene In some environments, there is sometimes still a question about whether a security officer or a nurse who uses force in a situation could rely on the backing of their management — and the backing of the hospital — if they intervene and are then challenged legally. The intrinsic […]