ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the need for mental health professionals to continue to be innovative, which in turn improves patients’ experiences in psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU). Many of the patients who come through PICU services have extensive trauma histories, which have the potential to impact their recovery. The concept of restrictive practices has attracted greater scrutiny in some years, and the scrutiny of care delivery within psychiatry has focused on the use of restrictive practices. Restrictive practices include physical restraint, the use of seclusion, and enforcement of medication. The multidisciplinary team remains the most significant aspect of a patient’s journey while receiving treatment in a PICU. There is scope for clinicians to apply the concept of the craft of caring in PICUs. Total reliance on seclusion, physical restraint and rapid tranquilization appears to promote a restrictive practice which is being challenged by patient groups, families, professionals and the wider community.
