Psych resident here. Working on a project to improve our inpatient environment and the experience of patients admitted to us. I'm curious what other psychiatric units are like and what sort of activities the patients have access to? Our units are made up of individual patient rooms, which have their own bathroom and typically a chair for a guest to sit, but no personal TVs or anything like that. The walls are plain white throughout the unit. There is a communal day room which has a TV and is where our rec therapist runs group activities. Would love to see our unit become more environmentally therapeutic and aesthetically comforting to patients and less institutional or cold.

So, what is your psychiatric unit like? What activities can patients engage in while admitted? Are there other activities you wish were available? Do patients have TVs in their personal rooms, like they do in regular hospital rooms, or are there reasons that should be avoided on the psychiatric unit?