Exploring multi-disciplinary team meetings on a personality-disorder ward within a forensic setting

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand how patients on a low security personality disorder ward experienced multi-disciplinary team (MDT) meetings, in order to suggest improvements that would benefit the patients and clinical teams.

Design/methodology/approach

The design was a case study where all patients on a low secure ward that specialised in personality disorders were approached to take part in the research. The study utilised non-participant observations of the MDT meeting (n=11), followed by individual interviews with the patients (n=10).

Findings

The data were subjected to a thematic analysis and this illuminated five themes relating to the patients’ experience of the MDT meetings namely, the importance of leave applications, the formality of the meetings, the opportunity to check on progress, decision-making and the importance of communication.

Practical implications

The findings suggest that small changes could be made to improve the patients’ experience of the MDT meeting. These included the provision of a less formal setting, ensuring a system where leave can be requested confidentially, greater transparency about the content of progress reports, and clearer communication between the MDT and the patient after the meeting.

Originality/value

There is limited research that has explored patients’ experiences of MDT meetings within secure forensic settings, and the use of non-participant observations of the MDT meeting followed by semi-structured interviews meant that the researcher and the patient had a shared experience that formed the basis of the later discussion.

Citation

Leese, M. and Fraser, K. (2019), "Exploring multi-disciplinary team meetings on a personality-disorder ward within a forensic setting", Mental Health Review Journal, Vol. 24 No. 3, pp. 160-170. https://doi.org/10.1108/MHRJ-05-2019-0017