[Management of violent behaviour and rapid tranquillisation during acute psychotic episode: discrepancy between routine practice and evidence. The SIEP-DIRECT'S Project].

Aims: To evaluate the quality of acute psychiatric care concerning the management of violent behaviour and rapid tranquilization.

Methods: Data concerning 13 indicators, drawn from NICE recommendations, were collected in 19 Departments of Mental Health, in the frame of the SIEP-DIRECT'S Project, to evaluate the implementation of NICE recommendations in Italian Mental Health Services.

Results: In about two thirds of Departments of Mental Health (DMHs) professionals were trained in the management of violent behaviour, while written procedures existed only in one fourth of DMHs.

[Promoting recovery of schizophrenic patients: discrepancy between routine practice and evidence. The SIEP-DIRECT'S Project].

Aims: The aim of this work is to present the main discrepancies, as evidenced by the SIEP-DIRECT'S Project, between the evidence-based NICE guidelines for schizophrenia and the usual practices of the Italian mental health services in order to promote the recovery of patients with schizophrenia.

Methods: Starting from the main NICE recommendations on recovery promotion, 41 indicators were developed. These were experimented in 19 participating Italian Mental Health Departments (MHD) or Psychiatric Services through self-evaluation of the activities carried out to promote patient recovery with the aim of assessing the level of adherence to the recommendations.

[Surveying patients' and family members' satisfaction: the experience of the Mental Health Department in Savona].

Aim: To point out the degree of satisfaction of psychotic patients and their family members in relation to the assistance given by the four Outpatient Mental Health Services in the Savona Department.

Methods: patients with a diagnosis of psychosis were selected among those visited during the period from the 1st of January to the 30th of April 2002. VSSS-54 item, was utilized.