People hospitalised on acute psychiatric wards report mixed feelings of safety and vulnerability

Author accepted manuscript (Post Print) made available in accordance with publisher copyright policy.Commentary on: Stenhouse RC. ‘Safe enough in here?’: patients’ expectations and experiences of feeling safe in an acute psychiatric inpatient ward. J Clin Nurs 2013;22:3109–18. Implications for practice and research - Patients expect to be cared for and kept safe by nurses. They feel physically safer when male nurses are present and feel vulnerable among fellow patients. - Nurses need to be sensitive to the experience of hospitalisation and need to provide physical and emotional safety for all inpatients through close engagement with them. - Further research is needed to explore the factors that promote feelings of being safe and recovery in acute inpatient units