are not an equivalent replacement. More human attention and presence is required. The decisive question of why conditions in which the personal integrity of human beings is intruded upon despite possible milder alternatives continue to be tolerated must not only be posed to those acting directly in stationary psychiatric care but also to the operators of such facilities and to those who have the political responsibility. Based on the observations made by the commissions, it can be assumed that the staff situation – especially with regard to adequate night shift personnel – must be evaluated on an ongoing basis. It is necessary to take the individual requirements in the respective wards into consideration and to react flexibly to the requirements that have to some extent become greater. In the course of examining care records, the commissions have dealt intensively with questions regarding medication. Administering medicines/drugs is fundamentally the job of doctors that can be delegated to qualified nursing staff within the scope of a field of activity for which they are jointly responsible. For this to occur, however, it is necessary that amount, dose and type and time of administration be noted in written form in the patients’ charts by the doctors authorised to issue prescriptions. PRN medication is insufficiently determined PRN (“pro re nata”) medication is permitted in exceptional, individual cases if the criteria for the assessment of timing and dose of the medication to be administered is unambiguous, beyond any doubt and verifiable according to the doctor’s instructions without the nursing staff making inadmissible diagnostic or therapeutic decisions that exceed their competence at their own discretion. However, in the course of reviewing care records in the psychiatric ward of the Wels-Grieskirchen Clinic, Commission 2 found that these requirements are not fulfilled seamlessly. In the case of one patient, the additional prescription said only “as needed”. After the commission’s visit, the hospital’s doctors were strongly advised as to proper procedure to ensure that nursing staff can act with confidence. Additionally, it was ordered that regular reviews of the PRN medication prescribed by a doctor be undertaken by the competent senior physicians in the wards during rounds. Specifically a regular evaluation of this kind is absolutely necessary in order to be able to quickly modify medication that is no longer therapeutically indicated. If one reviews the mere number of measures that restrict freedom using bed rails, it becomes apparent that they are used particularly for the following patients: persons who are very aged or have been diagnosed with dementia and persons who are being treated in geriatric psychiatric wards. Falls represent significant hazard potential, including in hospitals. Neurological ailments have a particularly high risk of falls, as frequently there are several age- or illness-related physiological risk 40 Prevention of falls