HSM 420
Issue Paper Assignment
East Central Regional Hospital is a state owned facility that serves consumers with different mental illness. The East Central Regional Hospital serves a 23 county catchment in Georgia. Consumers are referred by many different sources (private physicians, private health care providers, local mental health clinics, emergency rooms, hospitals, court orders, jails, family and friends).
Upon arrival to the admitting office, consumers are interviewed, signature/authorization to treat is obtained, belongings and the consumer are searched, vital signs are obtained, and a picture ID and identification card are printed. Consumer information is entered into the consumer registration system and fed to the Pharmacy and Laboratory system.
The admission process takes 30-45 minutes, depending upon the cooperation of the consumer ant the number of belongings the consumer brings with them to the hospital. Once the admission process is completed, the consumer is escorted to the nursing unit and oriented to the daily schedule and what to expect while hospitalized.
The consumers are then place on a unit according to their diagnosis, and each consumer is supplied with their own room to make them feel comfortable. One of the issues that are currently going on at the hospital is the lack of employees there is to care for each consumer. The state of Georgia is currently under major budget cuts and is currently on a major hiring freeze, which means that the hospital is understaffed at the m moment. With the state being on a hiring freeze, it makes placing the consumer in the community difficult as well because a lot of personal care homes a ...