Inpatients

During your first few days in hospital assessment will be carried out by nursing and medical staff and by social work, psychology, occupational therapy and various other disciplines, if deemed necessary. With your permission, a family member or friend will be interviewed. Based on the knowledge gained from these assessments, your clinical team will draw up a plan of action, which is called a 'Treatment Plan'. This will set out the ways in which the various members of the team will help you to resolve your difficulties. It will also take into account your needs and the part you want to play in your return to health.

A central part of your Treatment Plan will be participating in specific treatment programmes and they are as follows:

Alcohol Treatment Programme
Anxiety Management Programme
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
Bipolar Disorder Programme
Depression Treatment Programme
Dual Diagnosis Programme- for those with alcohol or drug dependency and a mood or anxiety disorder
Eating Disorder Programme (Bulimia and Anorexia Nervosa)
The Evergreen Programme for Mental Health of Later Life
Young Adult Programme

The main concentration of your treatment effort may come through individualised programmes that have been arranged with a major emphasis on family therapy, grief management, behavioural therapy, cognitive therapy, social skills training, management of personality difficulties or enhancing self-esteem. In addition to the specific aspect of the individual programme such as group therapy, lectures and psychological skill development, other key ingredients are the daily lecture, anti-tension classes, pottery, computer skills and using the gym.

YOUR DESIGNATED NURSE
You will be allocated a Nurse/s whose responsibilities will include looking after your care needs. Your designated nurse will be more familiar with your illness and your needs. They will work as part of the multidisciplinary team and on each shift will discuss and review your care.

THE MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAM
The multidisciplinary team includes medical, nursing, social work, occupational therapy and psychology personnel. Their aim is to assist you in your recovery.

FAMILY/SIGNIFICANT OTHER
Your family and friends play an important role in your recovery, and of course will be anxious to receive news on how you are doing. This can be time consuming for the staff, so we would appreciate if only one member of your family/friends rang to make enquiries, and they in turn can inform other members.

FAMILY BOOKLET
Relatives and Carers will find other useful information in the Hospital's Relatives and Carers Booklet.

DOCTOR'S ROUNDS
Your Consultant will have regular ward rounds and team meetings on the ward. Your designated nurse will be able to give you the ward round times.

NIGHT TIME
There is a change of Nursing Personnel at 8.00 p.m. Part of the Nurses role on night duty is to monitor your sleeping pattern.

MEDICATION BROUGHT INTO ST. PATRICK'S HOSPITAL
On admission, all medications (unless taken home by relatives), are sent to pharmacy for storage, these including laxatives, painkillers, cough, and herbal medicines etc. On discharge you are encouraged to visit the Pharmacy where your take-home prescription will be reviewed and any medication, which continues to be prescribed for you, will be returned. Any medicines no longer prescribed will be disposed of safely. This is due to the fact that it is not always appropriate to use medications in combination with one another. It is also important to ensure that medicines are only retained in sufficiently small quantities at home.