Community Assessment for Austin State Hospital

Community Assessment for Austin State Hospital
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Community Assessment for Austin State Hospital
Austin State Hospital serves individuals with varying mental health issues, such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and alcohol and substance abuse. The hospital’s stakeholders work collaboratively towards achieving common patient goals and interests, such as mental stability and recovery. The facility serves people from different regions and with varying backgrounds. Environmental issues in the facility significantly influence psychiatric patients’ healing process and health workers’ job satisfaction and morale. Furthermore, religious, financial, and cultural health determinants could hinder quality healthcare delivery. Nevertheless, the hospital can implement some mitigating strategies and improve specific aspects to enhance effective and efficient healthcare services among patients with mental health needs. This paper incorporates a community assessment of the psychiatric facility through an interview and physical appraisal of the community.
Community and its Boundaries
The Austin State hospital is a psychiatric center that serves individuals with mental health needs in the Texas community and neighboring regions. The facility is in a community with diverse cultural and ethnic groups, such as White, African Americans, and Latinos, with varying health beliefs (Austin Data, 2022). The community members have varying educational levels, such as illiterate, primary, secondary, and tertiary. Furthermore, people have different financial capacities due to varying skills and knowledge. As a result, the community has people from varying economic backgrounds, such as low-income individuals, middle-class, and high-class.
Austin State hospital borders other surrounding social amenities, including schools, shops, and religious places like churches and mosques. In addition, the spiritual beliefs in the community, including Islam, Christianity, and Hinduism, influence members’ health. The community members have some phenomenological knowledge concerning the benefits of seeking mental health services. As a result, they value health promotion measures since they participate in health-related campaigns and programs involving various health initiatives, such as mental awareness, proper nutrition, and physical activities. Furthermore, the community values mental health because relevant stakeholders, including the local governments and individuals, invest and spend their funds on psychiatric interventions and programs, such as crisis, drugs and substance abuse, and mental health campaigns (Texas, 2023). Nevertheless, since the facility has inadequate funds, the community needs financial assistance from donors, federal governments, and sponsors.
Community Assessment
Austin State hospital mainly manages patients’ mental health issues in Texas and the surrounding regions. The facility serves people from diverse backgrounds with varying issues, including drug abuse and mental health disorders (Texas, 2023). According to Austin Data (2022), 26.4% of Texas residents had mental health issues compared to the 32.3% of Travis County residents. The facility has preventive programs, including mobile outreach programs, initiatives for alcohol and substance use disorders, and behavioral health programs for different mental-related issues (Austin Data, 2022). The programs are sufficient since they address patients’ needs concerning mental issues. The psychic hospital community has multiple service providers, including health workers, social workers, behavioral specialists, and assistive service providers, collaborating to enhance patients’ mental health. Additionally, the facility partners with other community stakeholders, such as banks, non-governmental organizations, and donors, to get financial assistance, resources, and programs for helping individuals with mental needs (Texas, 2023). The facility also refers patients with complex mental issues to outside facilities for enhanced care.
Issues at the Facility
Environmental issues significantly affect psychiatric patients in the hospital’s environment. The hospital’s environment and relatively permanent features, such as the size and layout of the psychiatric wards, improve patient recovery time and workers' job satisfaction (Karlin & Zeiss, 2006). However, exposure to the natural environment with chemical risks and other environmental pollutants hinders recovery, causing poor health outcomes. The facility has a high risk of chemical exposure, especially among the newly and young employed nurses with inadequate preparedness, knowledge, and skills against the risk. Consequently, environmental issues cause multiple health issues, such as infections, injuries, and premature death. The psychic hospital also has safety issues since patients with mental health disorders could cause harm to themselves or others. In addition, the language barrier between health workers, patients, and their caregivers negatively affects healthcare delivery. The psychic hospital also experiences financial issues, making it challenging to consistently provide medications and high-quality services to patients.
Challenges and Barriers
External issues like social, cultural, and financial challenges influence people’s mental wellness and general health. These issues could hinder community members from accessing health services, leading to deteriorating mental health. For instance, some individuals from varying ethnic and cultural backgrounds have taboos and restrictions for health access, and some associate mental illnesses with supernatural causes or spiritual beliefs. Consequently, they could refuse to seek timely mental health services, causing poor health outcomes, disabilities, and death. Furthermore, financial issues among community members hinder quality healthcare since they fail to afford health services like medications. Poverty among some individuals further leads to food insecurity, delaying patient recovery.
Mitigating Factors
The facility has a garden where patients and health workers can relax and get fresh air, enhancing health outcomes and job satisfaction. In addition, the facility&rs...