How Hospital-Associated Psychologists Can Help the Patients - Essay Example

Health Psychology Committee Report The psychology of health is an important field which has evolved tremendously in the past half century. Accordingly, healthcare practitioners have a better understanding of the significant health-related issues afflicting people throughout the world today than ever before. Seeking to improve overall patient health, measurable by shorter hospitalizations and improved adherence to medical regimens, the following aims to provide a health care reform plan with an eye to increased access to services available to the wider community. This hospital-based Health Psychology Committee has been mandated with the task of developing a psychiatry division to further enhance our response to mental health issues within the community. The following is results of our health psychology action plan. Seeking to hire and train five additional hospital-associated psychologists with the task of dealing with the wider community in a variety of health-related roles, the following recommendations will be made understanding that health and society are interrelated variables which work together to promote a healthy community. Accordingly, the committee understands and takes into account the important role that society has on the health status of members of its community. Accordingly, “on a fairly broad level, our society affects the health of individuals by promoting certain values of our culture.” (AUTHOR, 14) Individualist health promotion programs aim to address the health concerns of individuals while structuralism health promotion programs are focused upon addressing health trends such as the outbreak of HIV among high school students, or addressing the mental health issues across a cross-section of society. The social model of health explores both individuals and the social population in determining our conception of health. According to this theoretical paradigm, improved health can be improved by looking at the key environmental and social aspects of what constitutes positive health. This is a theoretical model which has recently gained credence due to its emphasis on social determinants of health. With this in mind, the report aims to specify duties for the five hospital-associated psychologists keeping in mind the interconnectedness of health status and society. Thus, a sociological perspective on health will frame this report. Accordingly, the following positions will need to be filled by the committee: substance abuse counselor; inpatient-only psychologist; child psychologist; adult psychologist. Each of these positions plays an important role in the establishment of a coherent unit within the hospital setting and the following will explore how each position can work towards greater patient health and improved access to medical care. First and foremost, a child psychologist will need to be hired to address the important challenges afflicting children in our community. This child psychologist will need a background in child psychology and will have a variety of duties to undertake in his/her capacity as outreach liaison with the community. In this capacity, the child psychologist will collaborate with local schools and provide outreach to young people with mental health problems. Understanding that the self and society are interrelated, the child psychologist will seek to address the important psychological challenges facing our young people and will apply the social model of health in this practice. In addition to collaborating with the local community, the child psychologist will provide psychological preparation methods for children prior to medical procedures and will work with parents and children in addressing the mental health challenges associated with the oftentimes scary medical field. Whether the procedures are prescribed or elective, the child psychologist will play an essential role in addressing the needs of young people from a mental health perspective. Accordingly, the child psychologist will play an essential role in dealing with the unique challenges confronting young people in our community today. The child psychologist was given the tasks above because this role involves outreach to young people, most appropriately related to an expert on the mental health issues afflicting young people. Another position being devised by the committee is the creation of an adult psychologist to handle the important challenges facing adults in our community. In addition to the position above, child psychologist, which is outreach-based, the position of adult psychologist will subscribe to the tenants of the social model of medicine and will play an important role in reaching out to members of our community who require the help of a psychologist. In his or her capacity, outreach will be made to target groups in needs of support including the homeless, unemployed, street workers and the like. Outreach will be an important part of this psychologist’s tasks as he or she works with the community to understand the mental health challenges facing people in the community. In addition to providing outreach services, an additional community duty will involve the provision of psychological preparation methods for adults prior to medical procedures and surgery. This will be an important component of the work that the adult psychologist does support of the psychology department. The adult psychologist will work in a variety of capacities to address the clients in the hospital as well as those within the wider community. It was not a difficult decision to give the adult psychologist was given the tasks above; as a resident adult psychologist, the need for adult psychological preparation methods prior to surgery, amongst others make this professional ideally suite for the responsibilities above. The third position of substance abuse counselor will work to address the important mental heath challenges facing people with mental health issues. The substance abuse counselor will be a seasoned veteran in the realm of substance abuse counseling and will bring years of outreach experience to the table. Substance abuse counseling in quite important in our community and the substance abuse counselor coordinate the use of recovery programs and structured programs for substance abuse, in conjunction with social worker. This councilor will work to ensure that appropriate action is being undertaken with respect to substance abuse support furthermore, this professional will be tasked with diagnosing stress disorders and aid in stress-relief interventions. Since people with substance abuse issues frequently face feelings of hopelessness and a loss of control in the face of adversity, the substance abuse counselor will be tasked with handling stress and the ramifications of life with addictions. Accordingly, stress relief interventions will be part of the responsibilities of this professional as he/she aims to help people overcome the challenges associated with addiction. This professional will seek to mitigate stress while understanding the diathesis–stress model, “the view that people’s vulnerability to a physical or psychological disorder depends on the interplay of their predisposition to the disorder (the diathesis) and the amount of stress they experience” (AUTHOR, 108). Accordingly, the interplay of substance abuse and stress frequently go hand-in –hand. It is for this reason that the substance abuse counselor will be responsible for tackling the issues surrounding stress and life with addiction. The fourth position of in-patients psychologist will be tasked with providing medical care to the plethora of in-patients at the hospital and will be focusing upon the treatment of patients within the facility. Thus, the inpatient-only psychologist will provide treatment for chronic pain as well as utilize various methods to facilitate adjustment and coping skills with patients suffering a chronic or terminal illness. This is a very challenging role which will require someone will empathy and who understands how to provide support to those in potentially irreversible medical situations. Accordingly, these two roles are ideally suited of the inpatient-only psychologist as he/she will work with the important mental health challenges facing the hospital community. The duties and responsibilities appear to be ideally suited for the inpatient-only psychologist as he/she is tasked with tackling some of the existential issues facing the hospital in-patient population. Finally, the last proposed role is that of disabilities psychologist to be tasked with a dual in-patient/out-patient role of helping people with disabilities, short term or long term, tackle the important mental health issues that they are facing. While based in the hospital environment and dealing with in-patients in conjunction with the -patients psychologist. Importantly however, the disabilities psychologist will work with a cross-section of people, ranging from in-patients to out-patients and both the young and old. With the aim of addressing the important mental health challenges facing people with disabilities, this counselor will provide psychological support in a variety of realms. Dealing with the social ramifications of disability as well as encouraging the physical activity of people with disabilities in order to promote their mental health, this role will be related to many of the previously mentioned positions but will be a new and exciting role with many opportunities for growth. In seeking to provide a holistic overview of the mental health services presently being considered for this hospital, each of the five positions will contribute to overall patient health by addressing the health concerns facing the widest cross-section of our community possible. Whether one is an in-patient or an out-patient, young or old, facing a substance addiction or dealing with a disability (either physical or mental), the services provided at this facility are comprehensive in scope. With each psychologist responsible for his or her cross-section of the population, the hope is that shorter hospitalization can be achieved for young people, adults, in-patients, people with substance abuse problems as well as people with disabilities. By providing support as comprehensively as possible, it is inevitable that many of this positions will overlap. In fact, that may be desirable as gaps within the provision of certain services, such as mental health issues in children with disabilities, can be rectified in conjunction with both the disabilities psychologist as well as the child psychologist. By working together, significant gaps in healthcare provision can be overcome. Overlap is essential and an important part of how this hospital is committed to providing the best service possible to its stakeholders. Each of the five psychologist roles is essential and the proper development of a psychiatry division necessitates the introduction of these roles, according to the Health Psychology Committee. We have been mandated with the task of developing a psychiatry division to further enhance our response to mental health issues within the community. It is our belief, pursuant to the above health psychology action plan, that each of these positions contributes to the overall coherence of the proposed psychology unit. Mental illness does not discriminate and it affects people irrespective of culture, economic level or country of origin. Importantly, the stigma of mental illness has greatly decreased in recent years, and although it continues to be a very real problem for people with a mental health condition, the social ramifications of mental illness are far less severe today than what they once were years ago. We now know that many conditions have biological bases and that mental illness can be treated in the same manner that physical diseases are treated. The aim of this proposed psychiatry division is to tackle mental health issues head-on and we, the members of this committee, believe that the creation of the five positions above will do an excellent job at tackling mental health issues as comprehensively and holistically as possible. REFERENCES *** Need to insert full citation for uploaded book. No title/author was provided. See highlighted quotes.*** Read More