Table 2 Description of participating departments

Name

Emergency department

Psychiatric inpatient ward

Psychiatric outpatient clinic

Characterisation of patients

Patients in need of urgent general or psychiatric medical attention

Patients experiencing deterioration in psychiatric disorder

Patients living at home, receiving specialized psychiatric assistance

Subdivision of sites

Two wards:

1. Quick assessment, patients stayed for hours

2. Patients stayed for few days

Patients were admitted for days or weeks

Three teams divided according to diagnosis, patients were admitted for several months

Number of beds

38

32

none

Educational background of staff

Senior physicians, junior physicians, nurses, auxiliary nurses

Psychiatrists, junior physicians, psychologists, social workers, physiotherapists, nurses, auxiliary nurses

Psychiatrists, psychologists, occupational therapists, social workers, nurses, auxiliary nurses

Experience with ethic reflection

–

–

+

Involved in other quality of care projects

–

+

–