Date of this Version

11-22-2023

Document Type

DNP Project

Abstract

Abstract

Background: The Baker Act was instituted in Florida to allow mental health providers to hold psychiatric patient who are a threat to themselves or others for 72 hours without permission. Although the act protects public safety, the failure of providers to understand the legislation and its effective use can result in patient harm through unnecessary psychiatric confinement.

Purpose: The purpose of this quality improvement project was to increase staff familiarity and awareness of the Baker Act for proper use when involuntarily committing psychiatric patients.

Methodology: This quality improvement project used as single group pre-/post-intervention design to evaluate provider awareness and familiarity with the Baker Act process six weeks following an educational program.

Results: A total of N = 5 healthcare providers agreed to participate in the project. Of these providers a majority (n = 3, 60%) were female and worked in the role of an advanced practice nurse at the practice site (n = 3, 60%). On the primary measure of familiarity with the Baker Act process, before the intervention all five participants were either not familiar (n = 2, 40%) or somewhat familiar (n = 3, 60%) with the legislation. Following intervention participants reported being either very familiar (n = 4, 80%) or somewhat familiar (n = 1, 20%) with the legislation.

Conclusion: The results indicate that education was effective for increasing provider awareness of this important topic. Further research into the topic is needed to determine if education will have an impact on practice.

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