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Refusal of prescribed drugs in a psychiatric hospital

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Brian R. Ballinger  and
Elizabeth-Anne Irvine
Brian R. Ballinger
Affiliation:
Greystanes House, Royal Dundee Liff Hospital, Birkhill by Dundee DD2 5NF
Elizabeth-Anne Irvine*
Affiliation:
Greystanes House, Royal Dundee Liff Hospital, Birkhill by Dundee DD2 5NF
*
∗Correspondence
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Abstract

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Aims and methods

A survey of recorded refusal of drug administration to patients in a psychiatric hospital over a six-month period in 1996 was made using drug administration records. For comparison 150 patients were randomly selected from the 1975 drug sheets and instances of drug refusal noted.

Results

Eighteen per cent of patients refused drugs on at least one occasion, and of those over 65 years of age 26.2% refused drugs. All the main diagnostic categories and groups of drugs were involved. of the 150 patients studied from 1975 only four refused drugs.

Clinical implications

Doctors should be alert to the possibility of refusal of drug treatment in a wide range of psychiatric conditions. When refusal occurs interventions are likely to be necessary, including a review of drug treatment.

Type
Original papers
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 23 , Issue 6 , June 1999 , pp. 346 - 348
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

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