Setting up a brand new unit can provide great job satisfaction but is not without its frustrations, as Anton Saverimuttu reports

PSYCHIATRIC INTENSIVE care units provide assessment and brief psychiatric care and treatment for patients whose behaviour demands a level of care beyond that which can normally be provided on an open psychiatric ward. The need for such wards is well documented (DHSS 1975, Dix 1995, Goldney et al 1985, Khan et al 1987. They provide intensive nursing care with high staffing ratios and have increased staff expertise in managing severely disturbed patients. The transfer of such patients from open psychiatric wards should enable an increase in the quality of care offered to those patients who remain. 'lire benefits of nurse-led intensive care units and the processes involved have been described by Dix (1995).