Mental Health | Health
10 Keys to Improving Inpatient Psychiatric Care
A survey of psychiatric patients identified key areas for improvement efforts.
Published in
5 min readAug 18, 2024
Key points
- Former patients of psychiatric inpatient facilities were surveyed and areas for improvement were identified.
- Improvement initiatives should prioritize areas patients have identified as most in need of improvement.
- Facilities should measure patient experiences to reinforce and expand effective practices.
In March 2020, as the rest of the world went into lockdown from COVID-19, I went into a psychiatric hospital. A year before, a severe manic episode led to my being diagnosed with bipolar I disorder after decades of treatment for depression and anxiety. I responded quickly to antipsychotics to bring me out of my mania, but I slid into an intractable depression that left me almost catatonic. Even basic activities, like showering or going for a walk, were daunting.
I had been working remotely, which allowed me to fly under the radar for a little while. But when my inability to work finally caught up with me and I lost my job, that was the trigger to seek more intensive treatment. At an emergency mental health facility, I agreed to a…
