Medication administration in inpatient psychiatric care – get control and leave control

The aim of this mini-ethnographic study was to describe medication administration (MA) in short-time inpatient psychiatric care. MA was observed on two psychiatric wards. Field-notes were taken and interviews were conducted with 15 voluntarily admitted patients and nine nurses. The data analysis was conducted as a dialectical and interactive process. Two central categories were generated: get control and leave control, and two subcategories: interpersonal contact and nurses' knowledge. The patients left control over medication to the nurses and expressed gratefulness for the opportunity to do so. Interpersonal contact between patients and nurses and nurses' knowledge were of importance for the possibility for the nurses to get control and for the patients to leave control. MA is a complex task with an importance beyond giving the right pill to the right patient, and provides patients with an opportunity to communicate with the nurses.