Running head: GREENVILLE COMMUNITY HOSPITAL 1

Greenville Community Hospital

Employee and patient safety

Students Name

Institutions Affiliation

Lecturer

Date
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1. Facts of the case

The location of the health facility is not so appropriate in consideration to the

requirements of such a setting. The idea that the hospital is adjacent to a large psychiatric

hospital does not guarantee cooperation and quality service provision. This normally brings

about overdependence on one another even when the situation does not necessitate for such

reliance. Sometimes such facilities should be situated far away independently while keeping the

normal coordination constant between the two hospitals.

Greenville Community Hospital is under some circumstances incapacitated. Long term

rehabilitation of patients is not possible at this health facility especially when there are more

patients. There are very few beds in the hospital to accommodate long term patients for

rehabilitation and this is a big undoing to the whole healthcare center. The available facilities are

just too expensive to afford or rather, scrambled for because of the scarcity.

Patients with drug-related complications are being placed on a non-secure unit and of

course sharing common facilities with medical-surgical patients. The safety of these patients is

not so assured right away from the look of things. The security and safety of the medical staff

such as nurses is not also considered a priority. There are no safety measures put in place to

counter any emergencies that may strike any time when nurses are on their normal duties.

2. Management Implications and protection of its employees

Actually, in this case, the management implications indicate that there is a lot more to be

done in terms of equipping the health facility. The management has failed to have proper

planning of the health facility without considering the welfare of nursing staff and patients. In
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other words, the management has posted poor performance as far as hospital management is

concerned.

Obligation There is a lot the management needs to do in protecting their employees.

There is an obligation for them to meet the safety statements according to the healthcare ethical

standards which provides specifications on the safety, welfare and health of employees is secured

and managed.

The management has to consult with employees while ensuring it passes across

information to do with health and safety of employees. It should have a well written risk

assessment where all hazards connected to works are highlighted along with risks in company.

The management should also identify control measures of minimizing or clearing the risks.

Emergency plans for example evacuation and incident reporting procedures should be put

in place might any insecurity occur. Since the hospital shares some facilities with another,

arrangements for working with contractors and the other staff sharing the same resources should

be met. In fact, the management should help their employees to draft their own safety statements

and risk assessment especially when they potential areas where hazards are bound to occur.

3. Responsibility of management and legal and ethical obligations of GCH to

employees patients

A hospital has been confirmed to be the most hazardous place to work. The medical staff

is likely to get exposed to certain risks which are never considered serious but have fatal results

at the end of the day. In this case, if Rosemary had been injured, the management would have

been liable for this incident. The management has a responsibility to protect its staff form any

kind even prior before an incident might occur. It would have been worse if the visitor attacked
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another patient because the management would have exhibited total failure in managing such

risks and possibly answerable by the law.

Greenville Community Hospital is obligated to various responsibilities dedicated towards

the welfare of both the medicalstaff and the patients. The Mental Health Parity Act is one legal

ethic GCH has to its employees and patients. In this case there are restrictions under which a

nurse giving healthcare to a mentally ill patient may operate. Substance abuse is also covered

under this ethic that nurses, in this case Rosemary did not have attended to the drug addict

without such provisions.

Another ethic is the adherence to the law stating the role of the occupational safety and

health administration in ensuring employee safety and provision of injury-free working setting.

The GCH has an obligation to guard the patients and employees against any injuries from

diseases and form physical sources such as injurious visitors like the one who visited his

girlfriend and advanced towards Rosemary, the nurse.

4. Optimum physical space for patients and the cost of ignoring safety measures

The optimum physical space for these patients should be accommodative of the medical

staff, patients themselves and even the visiting family members and friends. It should be

intended to optimize the patients comfort and their wellbeing. The rooms for patients must be

strategically structured because every aspect of construction will affect everyone involved.

Installation of security devices in GCH patient rooms, nurses stations and coming up

with safe rooms is not as costly as when all these measures were ignored and a massive hazard

blew the system. Normally prevention is cheaper than cure. The costs of actually doing nothing
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to secure safety of the staff and patients in GCH are high compared to when something was done

to counter any potential risks in future.

5. Emergency plan for the staff

The following is an emergency plan for the staff in the identified healthcare unit that

would be used in the meantime as the administrations works on decisions to renovate the system;

Outlining all appropriate procedures of ensuring safety especially for individuals who

confirm to be harmful to themselves of other people

Stating requirements needed for seclusion and restraints whether mechanical, physical or

chemical.

Seeking to employ more staff and availing enough resources that will adequately ensure

there is physicalsafety for patients and medical staff.

Trying to incorporate patients into the process of evacuation planning especially for

psychiatric cases including preparation for evacuation in case there is an emergency

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References

Auerbach, D. I., Heaton, P., Brantley, I., & Institute for Civil Justice (U.S.). (2014). How will the

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act affect liability insurance costs?.

In Nelson, B. D. (2015).Essential clinical global health.

Kollek, D. (2012). Disaster preparedness for health care facilities. New York: McGraw-Hill

Medical.

Pozgar, G. D. (2016). Legal and ethical issues for health professionals.