Assessing the Problem:Quality of Care, Patient Safety, and Cost Considerations

Assessing the Problem: Quality, Safety, and Cost Considerations
Student Full Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course Full Title
Instructor Full Name
Due Date
Assessing the Problem: Quality, Safety, and Cost Considerations
I met with Mr. Jim Pebbles and conducted an interview with him with the aim of understanding the effects of mental health on the quality of care, patient safety, and costs to the system and to them as individuals. I spent 2 hours discussing with him these aspects of the problem and despite his initial reticence, I was able to glean much about the patient problem. On the whole, my discussion with the patient revealed that mental health had both positive and negative effects on the quality of care, patient safety, and costs to the system and to him as an individual. I learnt that the increasing prevalence of mental health issues had brought about a growing social awareness of the public health issue. Even with his current mental health struggles, the patient acknowledged that the clinicians who attended to him were compassionate and understanding. He believed that the stigma surrounding mental health illness was waning and even admitted that the growing awareness and acceptance of the condition had resulted in substantial progress in mental health services.
However, Mr. Pebbles observed that more effort should be made to improve community support services and peer support in terms of accessibility and public awareness. For instance, he admitted that after been diagnosed with neck cancer, he became anxious and depressed but was reluctant to seek help. His mental health deteriorated rapidly as feelings of hopelessness and alienation pushed him to act on his suicidal thoughts. He believed that his limited awareness of community support services that provide group and peer support to persons with mental health struggles may have led him to despairing and eventually trying to commit suicide. Moreover, the interview revealed that his mental health struggles posed a danger to his safety, particularly the risk of recurring suicidal ideations. Mr. Pebbles was still coming to terms with his diagnosis and the fact that he had limited social support often made him feel hopeless, isolated, and helpless. He was worried that his recurring feelings of not feeling connected with his son and how detrimentally powerful they were in terms of acting on his suicidal thoughts. Although the patient was trying to find more positive ways of dealing with his pain and sadness, he felt that his mental health challenges remained a risk to his safety.
The interview also revealed that mental health contributed to rising mental healthcare costs. Mr. Pebbles admitted that his mental health struggles resulted in greater healthcare spending, given his cancer diagnosis. The increased risk of depression and anxiety could result in worse health outcomes and further spending on expensive cancer interventions. Consequently, the true financial cost of mental health illnesses was reflected in added interventions for non-mental health conditions. On an individual level, Mr. Pebbles revealed that his mental health struggles had resulted in negative physical effects such as loss of appetite, abdominal pain, amnesia, fatigue, and headaches. The patient admitted that his psychological disorders had caused a decrease in overall quality of life, lowered productivity, additional health problems, and social alienation. The fact that he could not work at full capacity led to lowered economic output and exposed him to the risk of poverty.
In addition to the interview with Mr. Pebbles, I also conducted a systemic review of evidence-based practice documents and websites addressing the effects of mental health on the quality of care, patient safety, and costs to the system. The literature review revealed similar findings to those gathered in the interview. For instance, the increasing prevalence of mental health disorders had help drive widespread efforts at increasing public health awareness and providing sustainable mental health globally (Kilbourne et al., 2018). The literature review also determined that mental health illness resulted in significant patient safety issues including violent, suicide, victimization, and aggressive behavior (D’Lima et al., 2016). Patients in mental health settings need to be restrained or carefully monitored to prevent adverse outcomes or injuries resulting from their condition (D’Lima et al., 2017). As relates to the costs of mental health on the system, the review showed that mental health heightened disease burden and resulted in high disability and mortality rates (Wainberg et al., 2017). The literature review also corroborated interview findings on the effects of mental health issues on the individual. Mental health was established to cause feelings of sadness, anger, and helplessness among patients, over and above, social alienation, dependence on caregivers, and reduced productivity (McLafferty et al., 2017).
The barriers I encountered when interviewing Mr. Pebbles was getting him to open up about the rather sensitive issue of his mental health challenges. Most of my questions were personal in nature and it was understandable that the patient felt uncomfortable participating in a 2-hour long discussion focusing on the difficult topic. One particularly uncomfortable subject was his recent attempt to commit suicide. I was not sure how to question him on the matter since I feared that any question or answer may intensify the idea of suicide. One way I overcame this difficulty was starting with neutral questions before commencing on the ...