INTERNSHIP IN NORWAY AND WARD CHANGE PLAN

In the first half of October, the third group of staff from psychiatric inpatient facilities went to Norway for an internship. The direct care staff had the opportunity to learn about good practice examples in local psychiatric care during the internships in May and June 2022. This time, the hospital and ward managers went to Norway to gather inspiration and suggestions for changes that they will plan and implement together with the direct care staff in the next phases of the project. The changes are mainly to further build a positive and safe atmosphere on the wards for both patients and staff.

The internships were made possible thanks to the cooperation with the Norwegian partner of the project, the University of South-Eastern Norway, especially Professor Bengt Karlsson, who organized the internships for us. The participants learned, for example, about the use of Open Dialogue approach in the treatment of patients in a closed ward, about conducting reflective conversation in challenging situations where patients, for example, self-harm, or about the functioning of a ward that focuses on supporting patients in reducing medication and managing symptoms of illness with other supportive methods.

The knowledge and inspiration from the internships abroad and from the seminars held within the project will be used by the staff of psychiatric hospitals and wards to implement concrete changes. Based on the information, experience and suggestions they have received, they will draw up, under the guidance of the facilitators, plans for change that will respond to the capacities and needs of specific wards and that will contribute to reducing conflicts and the number of restraints used.

In the coming weeks, an expert group consisting of managers of the psychiatric inpatient facilities involved in the project will review the experience from the internships and prepare for the development of change plans under the guidance of the facilitators in each ward. The meeting of the expert group will take place on Tuesday, November 1, 2022, from 13.00 to 16.00 ONLINE. It will be preceded by a meeting with facilitators to plan the structure of the facilitated meeting to develop the change plan and clarify goals and expectations and will take place on 24 October 2022 from 13.00 to 14.00 ONLINE.