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Objective: To investigate whether implementation recommendations derived from the German guidelines "Prevention of coercion" can be implemented on acute psychiatric wards by means of implementation consultants into ward work and if this contributes to an increased level of adherence to guideline intervention recommendations approved by the DGPPN (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Psychosomatik und Nervenheilkunde)?, Material and Methods: Two medical or nursing experts advised ward teams on the implementation of three individually selected recommendations from the guidelines in a structured consulting process over 6 months. The degree of implementation of the recommendations was assessed before and after the intervention by the ward teams together with the implementation consultants using a tool developed for this purpose (PreVCo rating tool)., Results: A total of five wards responsible for compulsorily admitted patients took part in the pilot study; three of them completed the intervention. On all three wards, implementation of the guideline recommendations improved for both selected and unselected recommendations. The strategy of using implementation consultants as well as the application of the PreVCo rating tool were well accepted and considered feasible by both the treatment teams and the implementation consultants., Conclusion: This pilot study showed that an implementation of recommendations on psychiatric wards derived from the German guidelines "Prevention of coercion" supported by implementation consultants is feasible, well acceptable among treatment teams and can lead to positive changes. The sample of five wards with diverse patient profiles was convincing. The efficacy in terms of reduction of coercive measures is currently being investigated in a randomized controlled trial on 55 psychiatric wards in different parts of Germany, with an intervention based on this pilot study., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Medizin Verlag GmbH, ein Teil von Springer Nature.)

OBJECTIVE Since 1996 three, meanwhile eight, psychiatric hospitals have been working closely together in a multidisciplinary team aiming at improving quality management and reducing the frequency and duration of coercive measures, respectively. METHODS Development, aims, and functioning of the cooperation are described, and selected data of comparisons of documented restraints and of coercive measures in one of the hospitals (1998-2004) are presented. RESULTS This way of cooperation was conductive to changes in organizational policies and practices of coercive measures and, in parts, resulted in reducing coercive measures. CONCLUSIONS The cooperation was effective in improving quality management and implementation of changes in practice of coercive measures.