Padded cell

Last updated
A woman in a seclusion room, 1889 A woman is standing alone in a padded cell with her arms out Wellcome V0041242.jpg
A woman in a seclusion room, 1889

A padded cell or seclusion room is a controversial enclosure used in a psychiatric hospital or a special education setting in a private or public school, in which there are cushions lining the walls and often a cushioned floor as well. The padding is an attempt to prevent patients from hurting themselves by hitting their head (or other body parts) on the hard surface of the walls. In most cases, an individual's placement in a padded cell is involuntary.

Contents

Other names used are rubber room, [1] padded room, time-out room, calming room, quiet room, or personal safety room.

Use

The length of time patients are kept in a padded cell varies greatly. Some patients remained locked in a padded cell for several days. A patient might also be made to wear a straitjacket if they are considered at risk of self-harm.[ citation needed ]

The use of padded cells and straitjackets declined drastically following the introduction of psychotropic drugs in the 1950s. Personal Safety Rooms are still used throughout the world and can be beneficial in providing a safe environment for not only occupants but also staff, and can prevent work-related injuries in the facilities.[ citation needed ]

A reconstructed padded cell is maintained at the Mental Health Museum, Fieldhead Hospital, Wakefield, UK. [2] [3]

Current practice

Seclusion room in a psychiatric hospital in Germany Kriseninterventionsraum.jpeg
Seclusion room in a psychiatric hospital in Germany

In the UK, seclusion is defined by the Mental Health Act 1983 Code of Practice as: "the supervised confinement of a patient in a room, which may be locked. Its sole aim is to contain severely disturbed behavior that is likely to cause harm to others." [4] The Code of Practice (paragraph 26.109) says that a seclusion room should only be used for that purpose and should have the following features [5] as summarized in the guide published by the Care Quality Commission: [6]

Criticism of seclusion and use of seclusion rooms

Many have said that the use of seclusion causes more harm than good. There is evidence that seclusion rooms and padded cells are used as punishment for minor behavioral problems in public schools and special education programs. There have also been cases of students being locked in seclusion rooms only to be found covered in blood later. [7] [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psychiatric hospital</span> Hospital specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders

Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, or behavioral health hospitals are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative identity disorder, major depressive disorder, and others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Physical restraint</span> Obstruction of physical movement

Physical restraint refers to means of purposely limiting or obstructing the freedom of a person's bodily movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Straitjacket</span> Garment used for restraining people

A straitjacket is a garment shaped like a jacket with long sleeves that surpass the tips of the wearer's fingers. Its most typical use is restraining people who may cause harm to themselves or others. Once the wearer slides their arms into the sleeves, the person restraining the wearer crosses the sleeves against the chest and ties the ends of the sleeves to the back of the jacket, ensuring the arms are close to the chest with as little movement as possible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mat</span> Protective or cushioning floor covering

A mat is a hard floor covering that generally is placed on a floor or other flat surface. Mats serve a range of purposes including:

The Lanterman–Petris–Short (LPS) Act regulates involuntary civil commitment to a mental health institution in the state of California. The act set the precedent for modern mental health commitment procedures in the United States. The bipartisan bill was co-authored by California State Assemblyman Frank D. Lanterman (R) and California State Senators Nicholas C. Petris (D) and Alan Short (D), and signed into law in 1967 by Governor Ronald Reagan. The Act went into full effect on July 1, 1972. It cited seven articles of intent:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mont Park Asylum</span> Hospital in Victoria, Australia

Mont Park Asylum was a psychiatric hospital located in Macleod, an outer eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The hospital opened in 1912 and closed in the 1990s. Some of the former hospital buildings have since been used by the La Trobe University for administrative purposes.

Evidence-based design (EBD) is the process of constructing a building or physical environment based on scientific research to achieve the best possible outcomes. Evidence-based design is especially important in evidence-based medicine, where research has shown that environment design can affect patient outcomes. It is also used in architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, facilities management, education, and urban planning. Evidence-based design is part of the larger movement towards evidence-based practices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashworth Hospital</span> Hospital in Maghull, England

Ashworth Hospital is a high-security psychiatric hospital in Maghull, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Liverpool. It is a part of Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, catering to patients with psychiatric health needs that require treatment in conditions of high security.

Medical restraints are physical restraints used during certain medical procedures to restrain patients with (supposedly) the minimum of discomfort and pain and to prevent them from injuring themselves or others.

Suicide watch is an intensive monitoring process used to ensure that any person cannot attempt suicide. Usually the term is used in reference to inmates or patients in a prison, hospital, psychiatric hospital or military base. People are placed on suicide watch when it is believed that they exhibit warning signs indicating that they may be at risk of committing bodily harm or purposefully killing themselves.

St Andrew's Healthcare is a large independent charity based at St Andrew's Hospital in Northampton, which provides psychiatric services. It also has sites in Essex, Birmingham and Nottinghamshire. It runs specialist services for adolescents, men, women and older people with mental illness, learning disability, brain injury, autism and dementia and hosts the National Brain Injury Centre. It is a psychiatric hospital and service provider that caters for individuals requiring inpatient care and rehabilitation, and step-down housing.

The Huntercombe Group is a specialist health provider in the United Kingdom specialising in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), Adult Mental Health, Brain Injury Rehabilitation and Neurological Care Centre, Adult Learning Disability and Children's Complex Needs. It operates 12 hospitals and specialist centres located throughout England and Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vincenzo Chiarugi</span>

Vincenzo Chiarugi (1759–1820) was an Italian physician who helped introduce humanitarian reforms to the psychiatric hospital care of people with mental disorders. His early part in a movement towards moral treatment was relatively overlooked until a gradual reassessment through the 20th century left his reforms described as a landmark in the history of psychiatry. He also specialized in dermatology and wrote on other subjects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Park Hospital, Epsom</span> Hospital in Epsom

West Park Hospital was a large psychiatric hospital in Epsom, Surrey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanley Royd Hospital</span> Hospital in West Yorkshire, England

The Stanley Royd Hospital, earlier named the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum, was a mental health facility in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. It was managed by the Wakefield and Pontefract Community Health NHS Trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Andrew's Hospital</span> Hospital in Northamptonshire, England

St Andrews Hospital is a mental health facility in Northampton, England. It is managed by St Andrew's Healthcare.

Involuntary commitment or civil commitment is a legal process through which an individual who is deemed by a qualified agent to have symptoms of severe mental disorder is detained in a psychiatric hospital (inpatient) where they can be treated involuntarily.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fieldhead Hospital</span> Hospital in West Yorkshire, England

Fieldhead Hospital is a psychiatric and learning disability hospital in Wakefield, United Kingdom. It is managed by South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

The Mental Patients' Union was an activist organisation founded in March 1973 in Paddington Day Hospital. Some of the founders had previously been members of the Scottish Union of Mental Patients.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seclusion and restraint practices in the U.S. education system</span>

Restraint and seclusion is a highly controversial practice in the special education system involving holding students down physicaly or involuntarily locking students in seclusion rooms. In United States public schools, the practices of restraint and seclusion are not regulated on the federal level. All but four of the 50 U.S. states have regulations on portions of these practices.

References

  1. "rubber room" definition from Double-Tongued Dictionary
  2. "About us: our history". MHM. Mental Health Museum. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  3. "Padded Environment". Stanley Royd Hospital. Wakefield Asylum. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  4. Violence and aggression: short-term management in mental health, health and community settings (Report). NICE. May 2015. NG10. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  5. Mental Health Act 2013 Code of Practice (PDF). Norwich, UK: The Stationery Office. 2015. p. 300. ISBN   978-0-11-323006-8.
  6. "Brief guide: seclusion rooms" (PDF). Care Quality Commission. September 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  7. Sterman, Joce; Brauer, Alex; Nejman, Andrea (2022-03-21). "Kids locked away, held down: Investigating 'seclusion & restraint' practices at schools". The National Desk. Retrieved 2024-04-03.
  8. Smith Richards, Jennifer; Cohen, Jodi S.; Chavis, Lakeidra (2020-01-24). "The Quiet Rooms: Children are being locked away, alone and terrified, in schools across Illinois". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2024-04-03.