Supporting the pursuit of professionalism during a crisis

BackgroundCrisis plans for healthcare organisations most often focus on operational needs including staffing, supplies and physical plant needs. Less attention is focused on how leaders can support and encourage individual clinical team members to conduct themselves as professionals during a crisis.MethodsThis qualitative study analysed observations from 79 leaders at 160 hospitals that participate in two national professionalism programmes who shared their observations in focus group discussions about what they believed were the essential elements of leading and addressing professional accountability during a crisis.ResultsAnalysis of focus group responses identified six leadership practices adopted by healthcare organisations, which were felt to be essential for organisations to navigate the crisis successfully. Unique aspects of maintaining professionalism during each phase of the pandemic were identified and described.ConclusionsLeaders need a plan to support an organiation’s pursuit of professionalism during a crisis. Leaders participating in this study identified practices that should be carefully woven into efforts to support the ongoing safety and quality of the care delivered by healthcare organisations before, during and after a crisis. The lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic may be useful during subsequent crises and challenges that a healthcare organisation might experience.

Public School Trauma Intervention for School Shootings: A National Survey of School Leaders

Trauma intervention in United States’ (U.S.) public schools is varied. The occurrence of public-school shootings across the U.S. elicits questions related to how public schools currently address and provide resources related to trauma for employees and students. A randomized, national survey of public-school teachers, guidance counselors, and administrators was conducted to gather information on public-school preparedness for response to trauma. Findings indicated that only 16.9% of respondents indicated their schools have trauma or crisis plans that address issues related to school shootings. Furthermore, public schools use a variety of strategies to address trauma, but teachers, guidance counselors, and administrators were often unsure about the effectiveness of these trauma interventions in the event of school shootings. Implications for findings suggest methods to enhance next steps in the area of trauma response to school shootings.

Community psychiatry

Ethical dilemmas in community psychiatry are not novel, but they present in sufficiently different guises to warrant reconsideration in a new context. The models of care and the social climate in which they have developed are reviewed, as well as the key ethical challenges that have emerged. These include concerns about privacy, confidentiality, coercive practices (the range of treatment pressures, ‘involuntary outpatient commitment’ or ‘community treatment orders’), and conflicts of duty to the patient versus others. Approaches to dealing with these issues are presented. These include increasing patients’ involvement in their care (e.g., ‘crisis cards’, ‘joint crisis plans’, and advance directives), clarifying grounds for coercive interventions in the health interests of the patient (e.g., a decision-making-capacity-based approach, the influence of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities), and considerations concerning the risk of harm to others, including duties to carers.

Dutch Mental Health Patients’ and Significant Others’ Perspectives on Compulsory Treatment at Home: One Size Does Not Fit All

On January 1, 2020, the Compulsory Mental Health Care Act took effect in the Netherlands. It contains provisions for compulsory community treatment (CCT) and compulsory treatment at home (CTH). In this study, we collected the opinions of patients and their significant others on CTH and on their preferences regarding compulsory care in their homes. Patients and their significant others were involved in the experience-based co-design of a purpose-built online questionnaire. This questionnaire was completed by 624 patients and 531 significant others. Sixty-one percent of the patients and 62% of the significant others did not want compulsory treatment to take place at home but in hospital or elsewhere. Patients’ and significant others’ opinion showed few differences, except with regard to the involvement of the significant others in CTH. As the respective views of patients and significant others were mixed, we recommend that crisis plans and compulsory treatment plans should be individually tailored to the needs and wishes of patients and their significant others regarding CTH.

Forecasting Mechanism using Grey Prediction Model for Sudden Water Pollution Accidents

To discover the control of water contamination mishaps, measurements and conjecture strategies are frequently used to define crisis plans in security designing. This paper shows the inherent clash between the methods of water-shed the executives and counteraction of abrupt water pollution disaster. Consequently, another idea "Trans-limit abrupt water pollution disaster" has been projected, and attributes gauging instrument is explored. In this magazine, GM (1,1) model is utilized in expectation of water contamination mishaps that occurred as of late. We utilize a showing case of water contamination as our contextual analysis to test the proficiency and precision of the GM(1,1) representation. On the base of model, we pick 9 determining files finally, and set up the estimating file framework for trans-limit abrupt water contamination mishaps. As per the test marks, the presentation of this mould is acceptable and it is helpful for regime to settle on crisis choices.

Nurses on the Frontline against the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Integrative Review

COVID-19 has affected the life and health of more than 1 million people across the world. This overwhelms many countries’ healthcare systems, and, of course, affects healthcare providers such as nurses fighting on the frontlines to safeguard the lives of everyone affected. Exploring the issues that nurses face during their battle will help support them and develop protocols and plans to improve their preparedness. Thus, this integrative review will explore the issues facing nurses during their response to the COVID-19 crisis. The major issues facing nurses in this situation are the critical shortage of nurses, beds, and medical supplies, including personal protective equipment and, as reviews indicate, psychological changes and fears of infection among nursing staff. The implications of these findings might help to provide support and identify the needs of nurses in all affected countries to ensure that they can work and respond to this crisis with more confidence. Moreover, this will help enhance preparedness for pandemics and consider issues when drawing up crisis plans. The recommendation is to support the nurses, since they are a critical line of defense. Indeed, more research must be conducted in the field of pandemics regarding nursing.

The value of crisis plans

Objective: This case study elaborates on the theme of crisis planning and addresses the question of the value of crisis plans and for whom. Method: This study is based on the data collected during a water pollution incident and consists of interviews, notes, and observations at a Municipal Council, County Administrative Board, and County Council in Sweden.Result: Merton’s concept of manifest and latent function offers a new understanding in the discussion of crisis plans. The result is then related to how known the place, task, and situation are to them. The manifest function implies that preparing crisis plans are supposed to direct officials in how to act when a crisis occurs. However, the plan was not made by or intended for the operative personnel who handled the water pollution crisis. Rather, this study shows that the personnel acted on the basis of their professional knowledge and earlier experiences when handling the crisis, and their knowledge can be related to the context of the crisis, and how known the place, task, and situation are to them.Conclusion: This research adds to the knowledge of the use of crisis plans. It shows that the importance of having a crisis plan is related to how known the situation and the place is to those handling the crisis, and if the task to be done is known to them. Knowing the place and task helps the personnel to improvise in an unknown situation, and the crisis plan is not used. The value of a crisis plan arises when the task is unknown.