Mechanische Schutzfixierung – Herausforderungen und Management: Fallvignetten aus der psychiatrischen Intermediate Care Station der Wiener Universitätsklinik

Restrictions of the freedom of movement of psychiatric patients in terms of mechanical restraint are regulated within the frame work of the Austrian law on involuntary commitment (“Unterbringungsgesetz”) to prevent endangerment of oneself or of others, provided that the application of these restrictions is proportionate. Apart from legal aspects, ethical considerations related to careful clinical management are crucial in the context of movement restrictions. On an international scale, there are efforts to reduce coercive measures of this kind in psychiatry. There is a broad consensus that their use must be considered as a last resort intervention, to be used exclusively in situations that cannot be dealt with using milder interventions. The case reports presented here from the psychiatric Intermediate Care Ward at the Vienna University Clinic illustrate this.