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Post by Admin on Dec 3, 2019 16:31:15 GMT -4
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Post by Nick Schuck on Dec 3, 2019 18:55:57 GMT -4
I think these articles really help to highlight some of the issues ours, and many other countries, have with mental health. To me one of the most glowing issues is the lack of education. And I think I find this in several circumstances, first being the lack of education provided to students during their school years likes in Middle and High school. I think more people might seek help at younger ages if they had better ideas of what different psychiatric disorders were. Myself for instance had no idea what the difference between a bipolar patient and a schizophrenic patient were until I was in medical school. Next I think that teachers should be educated more on what to look for in students. They mostly label them as problem children instead of being able to identify that maybe that child really just needs some medical help and is unable to direct the parents as such. I have experienced myself during my childhood that most of people I knew that were in need of help were scared to ask anyone to help us. Last place that can be in need of education is work places or areas where we can make sure others are not ostracized for having a disorder and are able to work just like everyone and feel involved and not isolated.
Regarding the issues with the psychiatric hospitals, the stigma surrounding mental health and lack of government efforts shows. I think these hospitals are severely understaffed, undertrained, and lack enough regulations to keep up with any issues that might be arising. I think this is definitely country wide and would be shocked to find California the only state having such issues. I do believe over the last 5 years we have started to make the correct changes and would like to see updated rates in the hospitals for say last year, since we can see 2016 had some improvement. Finding a ranking of suicide rates per country the US is sitting at 34th most while our neighbors up in Canada are 70th and Germany is 90th. I think getting extra funding towards mental health is always going to be a struggle, but I think having tighter regulations on the training regimen that employees of said hospitals go through and having consistent audits on facilities is within our capabilities to help make changes, and have some sort of consistency amongst hospitals. That way people should not have to feel like they need to "window shop" which hospital is the best for their loved one and can feel confident in any one. One thought I had while reading the articles was considering the possibility that patient rooms could be monitored via cameras that way someone could be watching a group of patients remotely while others are close by in case they need to rush to one of the rooms. A thought about then segregating via sex may be beneficial so that a female could watch only female rooms and males only male rooms in case of privacy concerns. I enjoyed that the second article touched on getting to focus on suicidal patients having plans about how they wish to die and how knowing this gives us a larger chance of eliminating a persons urge to kill themselves.
Overall I think the US has made improvements in mental health awareness, but that doesn't mean we still don't have several mountains to climb to further reduce suicide rates and eliminate stigma and prejudices.
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Post by NS on Dec 4, 2019 0:36:10 GMT -4
Wow, this saddens me!! "The Lack of..." seems to be the common denominator when reading these two articles. My condolences to all the families that have lost a loved one in this manner. The topic of mental health or illnesses that involved mental health have always been like an "elephant in the room" type of scenario. I know there is still a stigma surrounding mental health and a lot of persons who fall under that umbrella are pushed to the wayside as if they don't matter in society. They are left to deal with whatever obstacles that prevent them from functioning as a productive person in this world. The mere fact that the US government can't seem to provide the necessary resources to help keep this population safe baffles me. In Julian's case, he had a prior suicide attempt and no further actions were taken to assure his safety. That, in my opinion, shows the neglect that has been obvious for many years in healthcare management with this particular population. These types of situations will continue to happen as long as there is not repercussions and accountability. I am glad to see that, since implementing a checklist to ensure safety with the VA population, suicide rates have decreased. I hope to see more of that in the general psychiatric wards nationwide. Overall, I think with our current healthcare management, we should continue to lobby to provide the proper screening tools, education, staffing, and ultimately change the culture at hand when it comes to treatment in general and specifically for this population. This hopefully would help to set better standards of care.
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Post by LP on Dec 4, 2019 9:08:53 GMT -4
Mental health has become a huge topic of interest in the last ten years and fortunately, because it seems to be more widely recognized and accepted, many people are seeking the help they need. The unfortunate part of this expansion is that there are not always wellness facilities available for these people to receive quality care. Sometimes, even if there is a facility available, harm can come to the patient. There are many reasons outlined in the first article as to why these things happen including: poor training on safety techniques, limited staff to supervise patients at regular intervals, budget issues to remodel rooms, not enough facilities available and baseline negligence. But these facilities have a job to do- to stabilize the patient and prevent harm. This means providing a safe space for people to come during what is probably one of the worst moments of their lives. Patients should be able to go to a place and know that they will be taken care of and their family members shouldn’t have to worry that their loved one won’t come home.
Hospitals are adapting strategies to keep patients safe by doing 1:1 sitters, removing pillow cases, plastic bags and hooks within patient rooms. The success rates of these strategies appear to largely depend on the hospital thus far. However, based on the second article, the hospital overall does seem to be a safe space for most suicidal patients simply because it takes the access and means away. Unfortunately, there is a very long way to go to ensure protection of every single patient, however with more awareness and enlightenment surrounding psychiatric issues and psychiatric hospitals, I believe it will become more of a tangible.
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Post by KM on Dec 4, 2019 10:47:20 GMT -4
To say I was surprised is a bit of an understatement. It is pretty jarring to discover that there is a lack of a universal checks and balancing system of reporting deaths, especially those via self-harm and malpractice, to the general public. I understand the attempt at saving face and avoiding unnecessary damage to the potential formation of a viable patient-physician, but there should be a line drawn somewhere. Patients in those situations are in some of the most tender and delicate times of their lives. A gentle push one way or the other could really spell disaster or salvation for them. Although, everyone is human and we all make mistakes, in this sort of situation and environment, mistakes cannot really be tolerated. The VA seemed to come up with a very effective system that minimized the overall incidence of self harm to patients. Other institutions should really look into their successes and attempt to mimic them. It is regrettable that in recent time, federal funding for mental health based institutions and programs has been limited due to what appears to be an overall misunderstanding of the importance of stable mental health and having a solid support system to act as a cornerstone of recovery. Change should come in all forms. Faculty interacting with any patient in these delicate times should have proper training to avoid mishandling of situations, rooms need to be properly equipped (it doesn't take funding to simply remove a potential object from room ie a plastic trash bag from a trash can), and there needs to be a standard total of rooms set aside for these types of issues as set by some sort of state government board. There should be some sort of financial recompense for places that do not meet these standards. I do like the suggestion of having some sort of rating system to base treatment options for patients and believe that it may foster some sort of competitive-based improvements in care facilities. Mental health is a growing issue amongst our society and failure to make improvements across the board will only amount to increasing instances of these situations.
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Post by JH on Dec 4, 2019 11:28:59 GMT -4
It is quite disheartening to hear of attempts of suicide, yet alone completions of suicide in the hospital care setting. These facilities are meant to provide a safe and secure harbor for the mentally ill. It is encouraging to see that literature exists on the matter and that there are active changes and accountability taking place to reduce the incidental rate of suicide within these facilities. I believe and agree with the LA Times article that the focus should be on errors in low staffing levels, staff training, and breaches in facility security. Negligence on the part of staff whose job description entails establishing a safe environment for mentally ill patients should not be tolerated. Better Job screening and hiring techniques should be implemented to ensure that the right type of person is placed in position to care for these patients appropriately. It is also obvious and evident that more funding will be required to pour into these areas to ensure that these areas of weaknesses become strengthened. Therefore, there is an extreme need for articles like these to be published to enlighten those in and out of the field of the problems that currently exist. Another issue that the article raised that I agree with is the need for transparency. When these events of suicide occur on these facility premises, public record should be made. There should be a centralized database and a safety rating system that families of these patients have access to. Psychiatric wards should have the same accountability stipulations in place that hospitals have to abide by.
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Post by GS on Dec 13, 2019 19:22:26 GMT -4
There are not many evidence based strategies in preventing hospital suicide as it is presumed un-ethical to research in this area. We could do a better job screening for suicidal patients however once a patient screens positive one way to prevent a suicide attempt would be that the patient is never left alone at any point in the hospital stay until the patient is discharged. Furthermore hospital personnel can be provided with a checklist of items to remove from patient rooms and restrooms. The family of the patient should also be notified on what items can be dangerous for high risk patients. However it is not always possible to assume the sitter will be able to physically restrain the patient if the patient is in an uncontrollable state. Furthermore many psychiatric drugs have FDA black-box warnings for risk of suicide and some patients are personally abusing alcohol and drugs exacerbating their situations. Despite these uncontrollable factors often times hospitals and the personnel are held liable. There needs to be more funding for psychiatric programs and institutions to prevent these cases of suicide in hospital care settings. Articles such as these are important in elucidating the current problems in psychiatric wards and any level of neglect displayed is unacceptable.
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