[The Case Register for Coercive Measures According to the Law on Assistance for Persons with Mental Diseases of Baden-Wuerttemberg: Conception and First Evaluation].

BACKGROUND: In the federal state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, collecting data on coercive measures in psychiatric hospitals and supplying this data to a central register has been mandatory since 2015, so that statewide comprehensive data is available. This first full survey of the use of coercive measures in German psychiatric hospitals presents data of the year 2016 and allows comparisons with previous smaller samples.

METHODS: We analyzed the register data. The analysis is based on data provided by 32 facilities with 108,863 treated cases.

RESULTS: 10.7 % of admissions were involuntary at least at parts of their stay. 7,321 (6.7 %) cases were affected by any kind of freedom-restrictive measures (5.3 % mechanical restraint, 4.5 % seclusion). 674 cases (0.6 %) were affected by forced medication either as an emergency or after a judge's decision. The mean cumulative duration of freedom-restrictive measures was 45.9 hrs per admission. Time in seclusion or restraint accounted on 0.5 % of total time in hospital.

CONCLUSION: In comparison to previous studies in smaller samples, the use of coercive measures has considerably decreased in patients with delirium and dementia (ICD-10 F0). Coercive medication is rarely used.