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Psychiatric intensive care units, a design for living

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Roland Dix*
Affiliation:
Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit, Wotton Lawn Hospital, Horton Road, Gloucester GL1 3PX
Kelwyn Williams
Affiliation:
Wotton Lawn Hospital, Horton Road, Gloucester GL1 3PX
*
Correspondence
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Abstract

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The psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) is now at the cutting edge of acute psychiatric care. Very little guidance has been produced to ensure that the PICU structure and design is able to meet the complex demands put upon it. The creation, development and relocation of a PICU has taken place within the Severn NHS Trust. We describe the experience gained from a recently commissioned unit together with a review of the relevant literature. Recommendations are offered for core features and design.

Type
Original Papers
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 © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1996

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