Collaborative Care in Acute Setting

Collaborative Care in Acute Setting
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Collaborative Care in Acute Setting
Part I
Similarities and Differences
Depression and cancer are renowned disorders affecting human beings, and the two are a source of much human suffering. However, if the degree of human suffering was the metric used to determine diseases deserving more medical attention, then, depression would top the list. In this regard, more than half a million people suffer from depression across the world; thus, depression is the commonest disorder in the world. Apart from this, depression is the main cause of suicide among the victims suffering from the same. Well, cancer is a major health problem, but at least the victims of cancer receive treatment, especially when discovered early. Apparently, cancer, in the recent past, has received significant attention. Therefore, a mental issue such as depression has not received attention, which has made the public unaware of the condition; thus, diagnosis and treatment often occur late, when the depression has developed. In addition, treatment for cancer has advanced greatly, but that for depression remains an issue, which research has to establish (Ledford, 2014).
Notably, depression and cancer have differences and similarities. Apparently, there has been significant research into cancer; hence, this explains the advancements and progress in the treatment and management of cancer. Well, the attention is not comparable, in regards to cancer and depression, but at least depression has been in the limelight, in the recent past. However, the two disorders are different in terms of treatment and management, which makes the resources used in the same differ. Cancer, when compared to depression, requires significant resources, in terms of advanced machinery. The machines used for chemotherapy are expensive; thus, not all countries across the world can afford to implement these systems in their hospitals. Depression, on the other hand, will require significant time, devotion and understanding from both the client and the patient. Depression is a complex mental issue, which will require a holistic approach, and this is expensive, considering that, the treatment and management of cancer does not change. As such, mental health disorders cause immense suffering and the lack of a single or universal way of treating and managing them, make the patient endure immense burden, than patient suffering from medical disorders (Katon et al., 2010).
The healthcare field, in particular, healthcare providers and healthcare staff encounter a myriad of issues when caring for cancer patients. As stated earlier, cancer, when diagnosed at an early stage is curable and manageable. However, when the disease has progressed it becomes a challenge to manage. When the cancer has progressed, death is often the end, and the healthcare staff, having this in mind, find it challenging to let the patient, including their families to know the same. Well, in such a situation, no level of care that can help the patient and the only thing left is to let the patient, and their family to know about the possible outcome. It is an ethical issue, which generates dilemmas for the healthcare staff and the healthcare provider. In regards to depression patients, it is important to note that, there is less awareness. Because of this, people with depression often go untreated or undiagnosed; hence, most of them resort to suicide. In the same context, providing care for depression patients is sophisticated, and the need to hire or seek care from highly qualified professionals is crucial. Apparently, many of the healthcare firms in the world lack professionals who can handle mental issues (Ledford, 2014).
Part II
Mental health issues are complex health problems. The special conditions in the mental health facilities factors such as concerning patient autonomy, freedom of choice, and consent are facilitators of the complexity of depression and mental health treatment. These are important and the RN must consider them because failure to observe them can raise ethical and legal concerns, which further complicate treatment. Apart from the RN, the healthcare provider must address the issues to establish the ethical issues, which the RN is likely to encounter. Doing so will help in the creation of policies, which will help the RN to provide care and treatment to the depression patients. The emergence of managed care has created unprecedented access to various problems in the mental healthcare field. Apparently, managed care requires that, the RN makes decisions on behalf of the patient, meaning that, the patient cannot make a decision. Well, such requires that the healthcare providers and the RN to establish the nature of the patient, mainly to prove that the patient is dangerous both to themselves and others; hence, the patients can qualify for the emergency care. However, proving this has been a challenge; thus, many patients who require such advanced care often go untreated. The same issues occur in the context of cancer patients and in particular, th...