The increase in the number of patients admitted to Emergency Department (ED) requiring further psychiatric help risen creating a buildup at GCH (Buchbinder & Shanks, 2015). Nonetheless, this backlog of patient needing psychiatric assistance could not be admitted to the adjacent mental institution that cordially relates with GCH given the shortage of beds for long haul rehab. The situation is also exasperated by the drug rehabilitation establishments in the region being too expensive when individually owned or full to capacity if backed by Medicaid. The influx of patients with health concerns secondary to drug utilization has resulted in mixing of the sick with other medical-surgical patients in a non-secure unit. The lack of safeness of the unit is demonstrated by Rosemary, a floor nurse, who went to take vital signs of a patient admitted for substance abuse and found the patient having sex with her boyfriend (Buchbinder & Shanks, 2015). The boyfriend chased Rosemary out of the room as there no way she would call for help nor a place to hide from an aggressive patient. Given the implications of this case, the management should develop mechanisms to protect its employees, meet the legal and ethical obligations of its employees and develop an emergency plan for its staffs.
Order this essay today and get a 25% Discount. For today only!
Management Implications and Actions
From this case, it is evident that the GCH management is overwhelmed by the number of cases relating to drug abuse that needs additional psychiatric aid. Additionally, it is clear the hospital management has failed in developing mechanisms of referral particularly to these patients admitted in ED for substance abuse and identified to require additional help from psychiatric establishment (Cherry & Jacob, 2016). The administration has also failed to adjust to the impossible situation of the substance abuse patients mainly upgrading its security. It is evident in the case that an intruder can enter the institution unnoticed and leave. Further, the hospital administration is viewed as lapsed due to its lack of identification of the dangers following admitting and mixing patients needing psychiatric help with other medical-surgical cases (Cherry & Jacob, 2016). The dangers are not only to the latter patients but also other hospital employees such as nurses who are untrained or ready to handle psychiatric cases. In this manner, for GCH to protect its employees, it needs to adjust to the influx of substance abuse cases that require psychiatric assistance. The adjustment will incorporate improving the security of the institution to ensure that intruders cannot find their way into the hospital premises undetected. The hospital will also need to separate the patients of substance abuse with other medical-surgical cases. The placement of drug abuse cases in a separate unit will facilitate the hospital staffs to trend consciously in the unit due to the unpredictability of the patients. Additionally, the hospital will need to come up with places employees can hide from aggressive patients and an alert security system.
Also see:
Full Moon or Bad Planning case study analysis essay