Prison psychiatry: is the training experience safe?

The Journal of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice, Ahead of Print. Purpose Training in the prison settings is a mandatory part of higher training in forensic psychiatry. Violence in prisons is a recognised issue, which can impact on trainee safety and overall training experience. The Royal College of Psychiatrists have produced guidelines regarding the safety of the environment in inpatient mental health settings, but there is currently no such guidance regarding the prison setting. The purpose of this paper is to report on a survey of UK-based ST4-6 trainees in forensic psychiatry regarding their training experience in prisons, focusing on supervision and safety. Design/methodology/approach The authors constructed an electronic survey which comprised of 18 items. This was sent to each UK training programme director in forensic psychiatry, who were asked to distribute the survey to trainees in their region. Findings There were 36 unique responses, out of an approximate total of 100 trainees. The questions fell into two broad categories: trainee safety and trainee supervision. The main themes that arose were that the majority of trainees (59 per cent) reported that they had not received a formal induction at their prison and had not received training in using the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork framework (58 per cent) and serious incident review protocol (83 per cent). The vast majority (76 per cent) reported not being allocated a personal safety alarm,...
Source: The Journal of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research