["If I were the department head in this case..."--interventional interview with patients and co-workers of a psychiatric department].

Objective: How can patients and staff participate in redesigning psychiatric procedures through survey research?
Methods: Using interviews with circular-hypothetical questioning, 58 patients and 30 staff members of a psychiatric department of a general hospital were interviewed about their preferences for change and continuity in clinical practices, and results were feedbacked.
Results: Suggestions for change concerning doctors' rounds, the integration of music therapy, the number of individual sessions and the postdischarge care initiated real change.
Conclusions: Surveys planned cooperatively with staff and without competitive benchmarking can be effective tools in psychiatric organization development.