What Are The Key Features Of A Mental Health Ward?

Mental health wards, also known as psychiatric wards, are specialized units within hospitals designed to provide care for individuals experiencing severe mental health issues. Understanding the key features Mental Health Ward of a mental health ward can help patients and their families navigate the complexities of mental health treatment. This article explores the various elements that define a mental health ward, the services provided, and the environment designed to foster recovery.

Table of Contents

Key Takeaway

Mental health wards offer a safe, structured environment for individuals experiencing severe mental health issues, featuring expert care, a range of therapeutic interventions, and a focus on holistic recovery. By understanding the key features of a mental health ward, patients and families can better prepare for treatment and support their journey toward improved mental health.

Understanding Mental Health Wards

Definition and Purpose

Mental health wards are designed to provide a safe and structured Mental Health Ward environment for individuals dealing with acute mental health crises. The primary purpose of these wards is to stabilize patients, offer therapeutic interventions, and create a supportive atmosphere conducive to recovery.

Importance of Mental Health Wards

Mental health wards play a critical role in the broader mental health care system. They serve as an essential resource for individuals who require intensive treatment, monitoring, and support, especially during crises.

Key Features of a Mental Health Ward

Structured Environment

Stability and Routine: A structured environment is Mental Health Ward one of the defining features of a mental health ward.

Daily Schedules: Patients typically follow a daily routine that includes therapy sessions, medication management, meals, and recreational activities.
Predictability: A structured schedule helps reduce anxiety and provides a sense of security, which is vital for individuals in crisis.

Trained Mental Health Professionals

Expert Care: Mental health wards are staffed with a variety of trained professionals who specialize in mental health care.

Psychiatrists: Medical doctors who diagnose and prescribe treatment, including medications.
Psychologists: Professionals who provide therapy and psychological assessments.
Nurses and Social Workers: Essential support staff who assist in daily care and provide counseling and crisis intervention.

Therapeutic Interventions

Variety of Treatments: A range of therapeutic interventions is typically available within a mental health ward.

Individual Therapy: One-on-one sessions with a mental health professional to address personal issues and develop coping strategies.
Group Therapy: Sessions where patients share experiences and support each other, guided by a therapist.
Medication Management: Regular assessments to monitor the effectiveness of prescribed medications and make necessary adjustments.

Safe and Secure Environment

Patient Safety: Safety is a paramount concern in mental health wards.

Controlled Access: Wards often have secure entrances and exits to prevent patients from leaving without supervision.
Safety Protocols: Staff are trained in de-escalation techniques and crisis intervention to manage potentially volatile situations safely.

Comfortable Living Spaces

Welcoming Atmosphere: The physical environment of a mental health ward is designed to be as comfortable and non-threatening as possible.

Private and Shared Rooms: Accommodations typically include a mix of private and shared rooms to foster a sense of community while respecting individual privacy.
Common Areas: Spaces for socialization and relaxation, such as lounges and outdoor areas, contribute to a homelike atmosphere.

Family Involvement

Support Systems: Mental health wards recognize the importance of involving family members in the treatment process.

Family Therapy: Sessions that include family members to address dynamics and improve support systems.
Education and Support: Providing information to families about mental health issues and treatment options, helping them understand what their loved one is experiencing.

Discharge Planning

Preparing for Transition: A critical component of care in a mental health ward is discharge planning.

Comprehensive Assessments: Before discharge, staff assess the patient’s readiness and develop a personalized plan for ongoing care.
Community Resources: Patients are connected with outpatient services, support groups, and therapists to ensure continuity of care after leaving the ward.

Access to Recreational Activities

Holistic Healing: Mental health wards often incorporate recreational activities to support overall well-being.

Arts and Crafts: Creative activities can provide therapeutic benefits and a positive outlet for expression.
Physical Activities: Exercise programs and outdoor time help improve physical health and boost mood.

Behavioral health and its influence on design

The AHA reports that medical and behavioral health comorbidities often complicate care protocols, negatively affect patient outcomes and increase the cost of care. Several factors are thought to contribute to recent increases in medical and behavioral health comorbidity, including an aging population, the rising incidence of chronic illness and growing issues with substance abuse. While patients with medical and behavioral health comorbidities are seen in all settings across the care continuum, there is growing realization that current inpatient room designs often fail to meet the unique needs of this population and those who care for them.

A holistic approach

Behavioral health conditions have shifted to a holistic treatment approach in which patients take charge of their healing process through individual and team-based care in a supportive and nurturing environment.

Treatment facilities should be designed to be safe and comfortable, emphasizing personal empowerment and individual dignity, thus becoming a catalyst for improving health care practices and enabling patients to take control of their own healing process.

Special considerations

Given the range of specialties and ages in behavioral health, it is critical to understand the unique requirements for each to provide a supportive environment. While adult populations may require a higher degree of security, different requirements should be taken into account when designing for other populations.

A growing older population points to increasing numbers of seniors with dementia and mental illness. Older adults often are brought to the ED for care, compounding overcrowding. Because of their ages, these patients have longer lengths of stay, tying up valuable ED space. Additionally, most EDs are not equipped to address the specific needs of the elderly. Geriatric patients, because of their medical and physical limitations, require corridors with handrails to promote ambulation. Lighting and flooring materials should be designed to address limitations of sight and to reduce falls. The transition between materials and contrast levels of flooring color also should be considered.

Facilities for children and adolescents should be designed to address the unique aspects of this age range. Their physical needs and cognitive abilities change over time, giving them different perspectives on their environment. What appeals to a young child may not be engaging for an adolescent, yet the environment needs to respond to all.

Research has shown that positive distractions can enable a child to be more receptive to treatment and to be treated with fewer medications. As much as possible, the environment should strive to provide a sense of normalcy. The patient room becomes a place where a child can have more control over the environment and can personalize his or her space. Play spaces are important tools to reduce tension and anxiety. They can allow for learning and exploration by enabling children to engage with their environment.

Caring for the mental health of military personnel and veterans can be wide-ranging. The issues they face include PTSD, as well as traumatic brain disorders, drug addiction, pain management, sleep disorders and suicide. Though PTSD and traumatic brain injuries represent major mental health care needs, psychological issues more generally go beyond these specific problems.

Many veterans perceive constant threats to themselves and their families, thereby responding differently to environmental conditions. For example, open atrium spaces may be considered threatening to a veteran with combat experience. The Department of Veterans Affairs has embraced a Plane tree model of care that focuses on creating more welcoming and family-friendly environments.

Therapeutic Environment

The character of the immediate surroundings can have a profound affect on the psyche of a psychiatric patient. The New York Psychiatric Institute reports a dramatic drop in the number of patients who need to be restrained since occupying their new facility with its bright open spaces. Every effort should be made to create a therapeutic environment by:

• Using familiar and non-institutional materials with cheerful and varied colors and textures, keeping in mind that some colors and patterns are inappropriate and can disorient older impaired patients, or agitate patients and staff. See also VA Interior Design Manual.

• Admitting ample natural light wherever possible.

• Providing a window for every patient bed, and views of the outdoors from other spaces wherever possible. Views of nature can be restorative.

• Providing inpatients with direct and easy access to controlled outdoor areas

• Providing adequate separation and sound insulation to prevent confidential but loud conversation from traveling beyond consulting offices and group therapy rooms.

• Giving each patient as much acoustic privacy as possible—from noises of other patients, toilet noises, mechanical noises, etc.

• Giving each patient as much visual privacy, and control over it, as is consistent with the need for supervision.

Daylight, art, color

The positive impact of daylight has been shown in one study to reduce the length of stay for bipolar patients (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8882914). In this study, 174 patients with clinical depression were assigned to either sunlit or dimly lit rooms. Patients in the sunny rooms stayed an average of 16.9 days compared with 19.5 days for those in the dimly lit rooms.

In a report published by the Coalition for Health Environments Research called “Color in Healthcare Environments” (www.healthdesign.org/chd/research/color-healthcare-environments), the effect of color on health care environments was found to be limited. Despite numerous studies on color, there is no evidence to support a one-to-one relationship between a given color and a given emotional response. Although studies show a mood-color association, there is no evidence of colors being emotional triggers. Individual responses to color vary and are influenced by their culture and physiological and psychological makeup. The trend in behavioral health design is toward the use of brighter, more optimistic color palettes and away from those that are more neutral.

There have been studies that indicate that the use of realistic art can be beneficial in behavioral health settings to reduce patient anxiety and agitation. Results showed that medication dispensed for anxiety and agitation was significantly lower on days when a realistic image of a landscape was displayed. In addition to better outcomes for patients, the cost of medication was compared for the different conditions, establishing a potential financial case for the annual cost savings of $4,000 to $27,000.

Utilizing nature as a healing distraction benefits all ages of patients. By allowing the lines between interior and exterior to blur, the benefits of the outdoors can be brought inside. Similarly, accessible outdoor spaces that carefully address safety concerns can be calming, positive and therapeutic distractions.

• Use of new lighting systems, high performance glazing, increased use of natural light, natural materials, and colors

• Use of (soothing, not exciting) artwork

• Attention to details, proportions, color, and scale

• Bright and open public and congregate spaces

• Comfortable and intimately scaled nursing units and offices

• Compatibility of exterior design with surroundings

Safety and security

The approach to safety has shifted from traditional locked-down units and enclosed nurse stations where patients spend the majority of their time alone in their rooms. The focus is now on providing comfortable environments, with reduction of barriers and with a more residential character. However, the safety of patients and staff is the most critical aspect of design.

Generally, zones of risk, in which patients may cause harm to themselves or others, identify an approach to addressing security needs based upon areas of greatest concern. Zones of high risk are those in which patients are alone and unsupervised, such as the patient room, toilet room or shower, or a seclusion room. Medium-risk zones include those in which patients may have some supervision, are in small groups and are rarely alone, such as in group rooms, day rooms, laundry or the dining room.

Low-risk zones are those in which patients are observed and accompanied, such as in corridors, or where patients are not allowed, such as staff spaces, clean and soiled rooms and housekeeping rooms.

Suicides are the greatest concern and studies recommend that staff have visual access to patients at all times to reduce such incidents. For the design of patient spaces, the objects in the room and design features, such as door knobs, shower curtains, window treatments, ceiling and fixtures, need to be specified to prevent self-harm.

The potential suicide of patients is a special concern of psychiatric facilities. The facility must not unwittingly create opportunities for suicide. Design to address this and other safety and security issues includes:

Sustainability

Psychiatric facilities are public buildings that may have a significant impact on the environment and economy of the surrounding community. As facilities built for “caring”, it is appropriate that this caring approach extend to the larger world as well, and that they be built and operated “sustainably”.

Building Attributes

The design of a successful psychiatric facility should:

• Promote staff efficiency by minimizing distance of necessary travel between frequently used spaces

• Allow easy visual supervision of patients by limited staff. Nurse stations on inpatient units should be designed to provide maximum visibility of patient areas.

• Include all needed spaces, but no redundant ones. This requires careful pre-design programming.

• For inpatient units, provide a central meeting area or living room for staff and patients and provide smaller rooms where patients can visit with their families

• Make efficient use of space by locating support spaces so that they may be shared by adjacent functional areas, and by making prudent use of multi-purpose spaces

• Giving each inpatient the ability to control his immediate environment as much as possible, i.e. lighting, radio, TV, etc.

• Providing computer stations for patient use when patient profile and treatment program allow.

• Designing features to assist patient orientation, such as direct and obvious travel paths, key locations for clocks and calendars, avoidance of glare, and avoidance of unusual configurations and excessive corridor lengths.

• Designing a “way-finding” process into every project. A patient’s sense of competence is encouraged by making spaces easy to find, identify, and use without asking for help. Color, texture, and pattern, as well as artwork and signage, can all give cues. (For a guide to clear signage, see VA Signage Design Guide.).

• Providing exercise equipment for patient use where appropriate for the program of care.

• Providing access to kitchen facilities, preferably on the unit, where snacks or meals can be prepared by patients, when patient profile allows.

Also Read : What Are The Most Common Mental Health Diseases?

Conclusion

Mental health wards are essential components of the mental health care system, providing specialized treatment and support for individuals in crisis. The key features of these wards, including a structured environment, trained professionals, therapeutic interventions, and family involvement, all work together to facilitate recovery and promote long-term well-being. Understanding these features can help patients and their families navigate the complexities of mental health treatment with greater confidence and clarity.

FAQs

What is a mental health ward?

A mental health ward is a specialized unit within a hospital that provides care for individuals experiencing severe mental health issues, offering a structured environment for stabilization and treatment.

Who works in a mental health ward?

Mental health wards are staffed by a team of professionals, including psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, and social workers, all trained in mental health care.

What types of treatments are offered in a mental health ward?

Treatments typically include individual therapy, group therapy, medication management, recreational activities, and family involvement.

How long do patients stay in a mental health ward?

The length of stay varies depending on individual needs, the severity of the condition, and treatment progress, typically ranging from a few days to several weeks.

Can family members visit patients in a mental health ward?

Visitation policies vary by facility, but many wards encourage family involvement and allow visits, particularly during designated hours.

What should I expect during a stay in a mental health ward?

Patients can expect a structured environment with scheduled activities, therapeutic sessions, and support from trained professionals.

How is discharge planning handled in a mental health ward?

Discharge planning involves assessing the patient’s readiness, developing a personalized care plan, and connecting them with community resources for ongoing support.