NET 2 Task 4

Nursing Administration Specialist

Introduction The hospital staff are prepared to deal with emergencies on a regular basis. Behavioral health emergencies in patients, however, require a skill set that is not practiced often and for some, the lack of competency leads to ineffective care, frustration, endangered environments and staff (Soreff, 2009). When trying to intervene appropriately, it is education and an effective protocol that will yield the best outcome. This essay will develop various strategies and a performance improvement plan that will assist staff in their understanding of handling behavioral health emergencies as well as introducing them to the best methods of approaching these scenarios in the acute care setting. This essay uses both FOCUS and PDCA models to foster an effective solution to the given scenario. The FOCUS model requires first to find the practice or problem to be improved, organize a team for development of the process, clarifying current knowledge about the process, understanding the problem and selecting the most appropriate solution for improvement. Caring for patients with behavioral health crisis presents a multitude of challenges to healthcare professionals. It is imperative for healthcare staff, such as first responders of code scenarios or rapid response teams, to have a defined protocol for dealing with these situations effectively. As leaders it is key to recognize various challenges that destabilize efforts of the healthcare team to be able to provide high quality care to patients with behavioral health emergencies. Behavioral health has become a specialty that is present in all areas of care throughout an acute hospital setting as these patients often have comorbidities requiring medical