Establishing female-only areas in psychiatry wards to improve safety and quality of care for women

Abstract

Objective: Our aim was to assess the impact of creating a female-only area within a mixed-gender inpatient psychiatry service, on female patient safety and experience of care. Method: The Alfred hospital reconfigured one of its two psychiatry wards to include a female-only area. Documented incidents compromising the safety of women on each ward in the 6 months following the refurbishment were compared. Further, a questionnaire assessing perceived safety and experience of care was administered to female inpatients on both wards, and staff feedback was also obtained. Results: The occurrence of documented incidents compromising females' safety was found to be significantly lower on the ward con..