Quality Improvement in Health Care System - Essay Example

? Quality Improvement Report Affiliation: Quality Improvement Report Quality improvement is essential in America’s mentalhealth care system due to the current conservative healthcare policies that have been stipulated. Landrigan (2012) reported that the state mistreats and undermines people suffering from mental healthcare problems in the US. He further explains in the news article that American consumers especially from New Hampshire receive poor mental healthcare in state-based medical institutions. Policy makers concluded that mental health patients should receive care from local hospitals because of the limited healthcare funds available to provide better and custom care for individual patients. Residents of New Hampshire who suffer from mental illness are the last to receive healthcare in local hospitals or state institutions. The care given to mentally ill patients is not customized to meet individual needs, yet it is very expensive for the middle class population living in New Hampshire (Landrigan, 2012). He further explains that the healthcare facilities in New Hampshire do not have adequate and essential mental healthcare equipment, human resource and informed choice system to handle mental illnesses. Patients are mistreated by the state when being transported to state-based mental institutions under heavy guard of the police service. In addition to that, caregivers often neglect and abuse the mentally ill patients by serving them last, and providing poor healthcare services leading to relapse. Prosecutors from the federal government and Obama’s administration formed a joint venture to sue the state against human rights violation for providing traumatic care for patients suffering with mental illness at expensive costs. The state has violated the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Americans with Disabilities Act and the Nursing Home Reform Act (Landrigan, 2012). Mental health problems in the US affect the economy, family relationships and the ability to have a fully functional life with other members of the community. Recommendations a. Community-based Mental Healthcare Mental illnesses are caused by social factors, economic factors, genetic and hereditary factors. Some patients suffering from mental illness inherit these conditions from their parents such as Alzheimer’s. Bipolar disorder is caused by genetic imbalance in the brain that causes uncontrolled moodiness or hyperactivity. Unemployment or dismissal from work can also cause mental illness in some patients. For instance, after the previous global financial crisis that led to mass layoffs and home foreclosures, many people became mentally ill. Social factors such as divorce, dysfunctional families, deprived neighborhoods and antisocial behaviors cause some mental disorders in the community. Institution-based mental healthcare is expensive and traumatic because patients are isolated in an institution that does not allow the community to coexist with the patients. Community-based mental healthcare provides a platform where mentally ill patients can receive less expensive care and choose the treatments that will ensure a quick and lasting recovery. Mental healthcare practitioners in community-based mental facilities provide tailored services to their patients because they learn about evryone’s illness and include family and friends in their recovery-based care (McDaid & Thornicroft, 2005). Community-based teams also provide long-term occupational therapy that fosters mental illness recovery and allows patients to lead meaningful lives in the company of other community members. The resources needed for the implementation of community-based healthcare centers include volunteers, mental healthcare equipment, knowledge-driven caregivers and funds for providing long-term care. A community-based mental healthcare facility is simple in structures and personnel. Building the premises takes approximately one to two years while attracting the target customers will take less than two months with proper advertising. The major failure of community-based care is the human resource. Contemporary social workers, psychiatrists and therapists prefer working in a state owned mental institution rather than community-based centers because of the income. Community-based centers are less costly as compared to state mental institution, which implies that mental healthcare practitioners earn less income. b. Recovery-Based Mental Healthcare Most state owned mental institutions only cater for patients with mental illness for short-term purposes such as; prescribing antipsychotic drugs or transferring them to mental institutions that offer poor or inadequate services. However, recover-based treatment aims at long-term benefits that allow the patient to choose the best treatment that will suit his or her needs, and direct them towards achieving both career and personal goals in life. Recovery-based treatment in psychiatric units offer informed choice where patients are allowed to choose the best drugs with minimal side effects (Appleby, Harrison & Devlin, 2003). This form of care is person centered and every party (patient, psychiatrists and family) have free and easy access to the patient’s mental health records. Recovery-based care is based on trust between the care giver and the patient. Cultural values are adhered to, especially in cases of diversified states with different ethnicities. Recovery-based mental healthcare offers services that will ensure the patient has recovered fully regardless of the patient’s ability to pay for the healthcare service, follow-up and drugs. Patients who recover from mental illness or manage the disorders do not relapse because they are taught how to attain emotional intelligence, which allows people to live in a society that has imperfect situations and people; thus, they learn how to handle emotional pain. Health practitioners in the recovery-based system encourages the patient to focus on life saving skills that come in handy in work dismissal cases, divorce, mass layoffs and debt crisis. Recovery-based care is a properly planned healthcare system that ensures recovery within 3 to 6 months depending on the mental illness. The resources needed in this healthcare system includes; funds for employees’ salaries, educated and experienced mental health practitioners who not only treat patients with contemporary methods and drugs, but also relate to their patients with the same level of empathy and passion they show to their own families. Performance Indicators for Monitoring Progress a. Provision of Specialized Outpatient Clinics Community and recovery-based mental healthcare services are accomplished by providing services to mentally ill patients who are members of the community in their natural setting. Teams of social workers, therapists and clinical psychologists are deployed to care for patients in their residential areas, once or twice a week. A single mental health practitioner can have ten mentally ill patients in the same neighborhood (Allen & Carpinello, 2004). These patients are treated with informed choice and encouraged to apply for jobs that coincide with their talents to ensure a long-term employment opportunity. The caregiver will move to other patients after the previous ones have fully recovered and have been incorporated into the community to lead meaningful lives. Dividing the team of caregivers is based on the type of mental disorders or illnesses as well as the physical location of the community-based care centers or patient’s physical address. Some of the disorders that the mental healthcare team are dedicated to include; incarcerated people with mental illness, post-traumatic stress, eating disorders, psychotic disorders, substance abuse that cause mental illnesses, and mentally ill children (Lindbladh & Lyttkens, 2002). b. Mobile Mental Health Services to the Community Community treatment teams travel to the patients’ residences in a group of 10-15 social workers providing mental healthcare services to over 100 patients. Quality improvement in this principle is achieved when the mobile teams take their services to members of the community who lack resources to seek mental healthcare (Thornicroft & Tansella, 2003). These teams provide continuous services to the patients in the community while arranging and managing their patients’ finances. Patients who lack adequate finances for mental healthcare receive recovery-based care regardless of their ability to pay for the care and drugs. The teams of social workers deliver medications to their patients on a daily basis. Performance in this system of healthcare is based on teamwork, where different professionals combine their efforts to ensure that the community’s number one priority is health for the progress of the nation’s living standards and economy. Improvement in Mental Healthcare Industry Community and recovery-based mental healthcare improves the health industry in the US as a whole. The state owned mental institutions will have great reduction in psychiatric unit admissions and reduction in severe inpatient bed-days. Most mentally ill patients are unemployed and homeless because they cannot handle the daily activities that ensure a constant income for shelter, food, clothing, medical expenses and entertainment (McDaid & Thornicroft, 2005). However, community-based healthcare system allows patients to recover fully and improve their abilities in acquiring accommodation and their dream careers. Patients who are treated with respect and care have a higher chance of recovery as compared to mentally ill patients who are abused, neglected and escorted under heavy police guard to state-based mental institutions. Conclusion Mental healthcare services in the US continue to deteriorate because of poor healthcare policy that tends to ignore the existence and adversities of mental illness in US consumers. The state uses devious means in treating and handling mentally ill patients. The patients do not receive proper healthcare services but pay expensively for these poor services. Community-based mental healthcare systems are being formulated to cater for the needs of mentally ill patients who may commit murder, suicide and other crimes if left untreated. Recovery-based mental healthcare is also another form of treatment that allows local consumers to choose the appropriate form of treatment that is recovery oriented. References Allen, J. & Carpinello S. (2004). Infusing Recovery-Based Principles into Mental Health Services. Psychiatric Journal, 3, 1-22. Appleby J., Harrison A. & Devlin N. (2003).What is the Real Cost of More Patient Choice? London: Kings Fund. Landrigan, K. (2012, March 28). Federal prosecutors look to joint class action lawsuit against NH for problems with the mental health system. Retrieved from, http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/newsstatenewengland/955045-227/federal-prosecutors-look-to-joint-class-action.html Lindbladh E. & Lyttkens C.H. (2002) Habit Versus Choice: The Process of Decision-Making in Health-Related Behavior. Social Science & Medicine 55, 451-465. McDaid, D & Thornicroft, G. (2005). Mental Health II: Balancing Institutional and Community-based care. Health Systems and Policies, 2, 1-21. Thornicroft, G. &Tansella, M. (2003). What are the Arguments for Community-based Mental Health Care? Evidence for Decision Makers, 1, 1-25. Read More