DClinPsy Portfolio Volume 1 of 3 - University of Hertfordshire ...

Furthermore, there is evidence that therapists, social workers and nurses can be reluctant
to voice their opinions in multi-disciplinary teams and thus conformity may dominate the
culture (Atwal and Caldwell, 2005). This may be a potential problem with ward rounds as
multi-disciplinary collaboration is seen as vital for co-ordinating patient care. Difficulties
achieving such true collaboration may be due to competing ideologies and aims,
inequalities in power relations, communication and role confusion between the different
professionals (Caldwell, 2003).
A study which examined the experiences that carers of people with dementia had of
inpatient ward rounds in an old-age psychiatry service found no difference in stress levels
for spouses than other carers. Most carers found attending the ward round was a positive
experience although they needed to know more about the purpose and composition of the
ward round in advance (Bains and Vassilas, 1999).
Various factors have been identified as necessary for an atmosphere of care and respect
between mental health service users and their multi-disciplinary support teams (Wolf,
1997). These can be divided under the following headings:
1) Preparation for the meeting i.e. appropriate information needs to be given to the
service user in advance
2) Only the people that need to be present should attend
3) Appointment times should be given and punctuality adhered to
4) Seating arranged so that the service user is part of the circle not in the centre of it
5) Refreshments offered to staff should also be offered to patients
6) Questioning should be done in a respectful manner by the appropriate person
7) The teams should monitor the adherence to best practice guidelines
The ward round code published by Open Mind, (Wolf, 1997), was put together by the
service users that were part of the user group based on their experiences of ward rounds.
The aim was to compose a list of how these and similar meetings could be made less
intimidating and more respectful of the individual at the heart of them.
52