Proposal letter on Patient to staff ratio

Quezada 2

Student

Composition II

Interview Summary

August 22, 2021

Quality healthcare is the goal of every healthcare facility or provider and the ratio of staff to patients is essential to be able to provide exceptional care. In mental health it is important to maintain an appropriated staff to patient ration, by doing this the patient will remain safe from self-harm or posing a threat to others. This discussion will focus on interviewing a psychiatric doctor known as Dr. Norniella who is the medical director at the RIM healthcare facility. The interview was focused on the need of reducing the ratio of patients to staff suffering with mental health illness.

Summary of the Interview

Based on the overall outcome of the interview, the interviewee was more concerned about the importance of adequate mental healthcare staff on the quality of overall mental healthcare outcomes. Based on the reaction of the interviewer, he was opened and appreciated the need to ensure that the issue of the patient-provider ratio is examined further to prevent any unwanted outcome such as a sentinel event. Dr. Norniella felt reluctant and ready to respond to every question that was asked. He appeared to have increased knowledge concerning the issue and has more than 20 years practicing as a psychiatric provider in different settings.

According to Dr. Norniella, the issue of shortages in mental health providers is affecting the process of delivering quality mental health care. The success of quality mental healthcare delivery cannot be archived when 16 patients depend on one nurse for service delivered. Dr. Norniella responded that mentally ill patients require more attention for the assessment of their conditions as well as requiring frequent observation and monitoring every 15 minutes. This task cannot be effectively attained when there are inadequate healthcare providers. The adequate information collected from the patients requires closeness and spending more time to gain the trust and confidence of the patients. The increase in the level of trust and confidence is helping to make sure that patients are more open to the providers. They can reveal key information that is helpful in the diagnosis of their conditions hence better treatment plans.

Synthesis of the Interview

From the responses provided, it is evident that the issue of mental healthcare shortages is a concern in the attainment of quality. It is evident from the response that there is a dire need to ensure that more mental healthcare providers are increased to meet the growing demands of mental healthcare services by the increasing number of patients who seek these services. It is therefore important to ensure that the problem whereby 16 patients are cared for by 1 mental healthcare provider is addressed and replaced with one nurse per seven patients or lower. Caring for many patients by a single nurse implies that some patients are not given the attention require, especially during crisis. Therefore, much key information guides the successful diagnosis of the patient hence better treatment plans to patients.

Work Cited

Johnson, J., Hall, L. H., Berzins, K., Baker, J., Melling, K., & Thompson, C. (2018). Mental healthcare staff well‐being and burnout: A narrative review of trends, causes, implications, and recommendations for future interventions. International journal of mental health nursing, 27(1), 20-32