Theoretical Aspects on Improving Staff Safety on Psychiatric Units As a professional discipline, knowledge is imperative for guiding practice (Smith & Liehr, 2014). The phenomenon of interest (POI) patient aggression towards staff is an increasing issue in mental health services. In one study, it stated that staff believed that patients’ aggressive behavior are related to his/her feelings or beliefs (Gillig, P., Markert, R., Barron, J., & Coleman, F., 1998). This paper will summarize the POI, discuss Fawcett’s meta-paradigm, and select and apply to the POI Nightingale’s grand and Meleis’ middle range theories, as well as complexity science. Staff Safety on Psychiatric Units Patient perpetrated violence seriously affects staff (Murphy, 2002).
Violence in health care is an intriguing subject. Understanding and coping with threatening and violent behavior in mental health settings can be challenging and is a necessary part of being a health care provider (Berring, Pedersen, & Buus, 2016). If the situation is not handled well, patient and staff injuries can occur. A well thought out de-escalation plan and having a process in place is valuable. Having a range of psychosocial interventions that are focused on redirecting patients can help calm them down. The important aspects of de-escalating are being familiar with the patient, understanding the situation, knowing yourself, and having the knowledge of how to communicate in such a situation. Unfortunately, there are not many studies that have explored how staff and patients experience de-escalation methods and further research is needed in this very relevant area of health care.
Identification of mental health services that could be utilized as part of Jared’s treatment plan.
I work at the veterans’ affair hospitals in Houston and in November 2011, Veteran Health Administration (VHA) committed to developing an outpatient mental health staffing model which comprised an interdisciplinary care team to ensure adequate general outpatient mental health care .
Significance: Because nursing is the largest health care profession and nurses provide most of the patient care, and as an acute nurse, I can relate to how unsafe nurse staffing/low nurse-to-patient ratios can have negative impact on patient satisfaction and outcome, can lead to medical and/or medication errors and nurse burnout. It can also bring about anxiety and frustration, which can also clouds the nurses’ critical thinking. Most patients might not know the work load on a particular nurse and can assume that her nurse is just not efficient. Doctors also can become very impatient with their nurses because orders are not being followed through that can delay treatments to their patients. There is also delays in attending to call lights resulting in very unhappy patients who needed help.
I found your paper informative since it is the topic of my health policy paper for this course. I know all too well how it is to work in unsafe staffing environments. Doing some research I came across an association that is working toward establishing safe staffing laws. The National Nurses United (2015), the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in U.S. history, has a nationwide campaign in support of safe staffing for RNs and patients. They currently have two national safe patient ratio bills including one in Senate (S. 864) and one in the House (HR 1602).
How well prepared are the police officers when dealing with people with mental health illness.
Do you remember when people ask you when you were little what you want to be when you grow up and you told them a few amazing careers. I fell in love with becoming a Psychiatric aide for some time now after watching moives. But also I would like to get experience to maybe become a CNA or nurse assistant or aide. Comparing and contrasting these two jobs will benefit me next year and get an insight for people if they want to know really what they do.
If a hospital is totally budget based, which is a total finical approach, concerns for patients’ safety is a high priority. According to Mensik (2017), there have been changes addressing staffing involving federal and state guidelines. Although these guidelines exist, there are some loopholes that allow for a wide range of interpretations (Mensik, 2017). As nurses, we are advised to know our state’s laws and knowledge of whether the hospital is meeting these requirements. According to (Mensik, 2017), the state of Oregon, violation of safe staffing regulations results in civil penalties if the patient’s quality of care was adversely affected. The Texas Board of Nursing offers Safe Harbor. Safe Harbor is a reporting of unsafe assignments which
Every person is diverse in many ways. It is through their thoughts, encounters, life experiences that make people who they are today. Health care professionals are impacted everyday with their psychosocial factors that they are aware of and unaware of.” Some may believe that considering psychosocial factors is impractical because of time constraints (Falvo, Pg 82). There are health care professionals that ignore or try avoiding patient’s psychosocial factors because of feelings of being overwhelmed or incompetent because they don’t know how to handle the issue at hand. An example would be a doctor prescribing medication to a patient who does not believe in
The priority issue is safe staffing for nurses working in hospitals. This issue is a priority because many times nurses are overwhelmed with his or her patient load and cannot provide safe, effective patient care. With such a heavy emphasis on patient outcomes and patient satisfaction, more attention should be dedicated to this issue. Research studies consistently find that whenever there is high patient-nurse ratio it negatively impacts patient safety. A great number of studies have demonstrated that higher nurse staffing levels and richer skill mix have a strong association with reduced adverse patient outcomes (Twigg, Gelder, & Myers, 2015). This paper will discuss policy priority issue of safe staffing by identifying key points, providing supporting empirical evidence and recommendations to improve safe staffing, and the impact and importance safe staffing has on nursing.
The aim of this assignment is to portray knowledge and understanding of all aspects of Safety and Health while working as a nurse in a hospital environment. All employees must comply and familiarise themselves with legislation and acts. These acts include The Safety, Health and Welfare Act 2005 and The manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992. Employers must “ Ensure the safety, health and welfare at work of his or her employees, manage and conduct work activities in such a way as to ensure the safety, health and welfare at work of all employees, manage and conduct work activities in such a way as to prevent any improper conduct or behaviour likely to endanger employees, provide information, instruction, training and supervision,
The goals of the Improving Access to Emergency Psychiatric Care Act align with the three core principles of the broader Affordable Care Act: “Improving access to and satisfaction with care, improving quality and outcomes of care, and reducing total health care costs” (Katon and Unützer, 2013). In both its direct impact on the nation’s neglected mentally ill population and the precedent that it reinforces with respect to systematic health care reform, the Improving Access to Emergency Psychiatric Care Act is an outstanding law that exemplifies the cooperation of prescriptive legislation and outcome-driven administration in formulating and implementing effective domestic policy.
Fortunately, mental health counselors have a stringent accreditation procedures that require them to apply professional standards of practice under the supervision of an experienced counselor as part of the institutions CACREP requirements for one hundreds in their practicum and four hundred hours in their internship. In theory CACREP requirements provide the counselor in training opportunities to become competent in their skills and responsibilities while gaining an understanding of the mental health processes.
The leading issue in today’s society is Mental health however, when overlapped with the Canadian criminal justice system, it becomes more prominent. Inmates with mental health often experience trauma when they are targets of brutal punishments or segregation. According to the World Health Organization, mental health is described as “a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community”. This state controls the physical, mental and emotional well-being. Mental health can affect one’s body to a severe depression where they experience eating disorder, anxiety or the feeling of abandonment. Mental health is mainly common in correctional institutions; specifically in federal correctional systems where the rate for mental disorders are said to be up to three times as common as in the Canadian population at large (Sorenson, 2010). Many reasons have proven to be associated with the growing population of inmates in the correctional facility with mental health such as street violence, drug issues, survival needs
Psychiatric institutions can introduce individuals to many forms of abuse including psychological, sexual, verbal and drug abuse. The public should be educated on the mistreatment that occurs behind the doors. Sexual abuse deems itself to be one of the top forms of abuse in psychiatric institutions. Those to whom inhabit these facilities have a mental illness, therefore, the verbal statements that these individual vocalize throughout their days can be considered to be fictitious. The mental state that they are reduced to or the reason that they are in the position that they are in can make this more believable. Media has broaden our horizons with a more vivid representation of the madness that occurs; as well as personal accounts that have