Health is a critical issue. There are various ways through which individuals get infected with various illness and diseases. Some of them could be prevented while others could only be controlled. Being healthy is extremely important since illness is associated with a lot of negative attributes for instance un-productivity due to inability to perform duties, poverty due to expenses incurred on treatment and many other inconveniences to not only the victim but also the caregivers and relatives. For this reason, there is dire need to take any possible measure aimed at avoiding infections in an effort to live a comfortable life free from illness. This piece of work gives a review of The Joint Commission (TJC) website especially on the sentinel event alert part. Much emphasis will be given to the Sentinel Event Alert, Issue 7: Inpatient Suicides: Recommendations for Prevention.
Although statistics show that there are relatively few cases of infection-related sentinel that are made known to the Joint commission, it is evident that there is a high number of individuals who acquire infections in different health care settings, some of them dying from the infections. This therefore calls for some actions to be taken in order to avoid or rather minimize such cases. Sentinel Event Alert, Issue 7: Inpatient Suicides: Recommendations for Prevention outlines critical concepts. There have been considerable cases related to inpatient suicide. They happen in diverse health care facilities e.g. psychiatric hospitals. Most of the cases are associated with negligence among the medical practitioners. This therefore necessitates that there may be adequate observation all the time for all the patients that are at a high risk of contemplating suicide (The Joint Commission, 1998).
Despite the fact that patients are taken to health care facilities so as to attain health care and recover from their ill conditions, there are chances where the patient’s conditions worsens after they get into the health care facilities and to the extreme, it may lead to suicidal attempts and deaths. Suicide instances are exacerbated by various factors and hence the need to keep them in control. Some of the causes of inpatient suicide include poor patient assessment methods during intake. This leads to poor action in regard to the patient, for instance, there may be chances of poor assignment of the patient where he or she may be confined to an inappropriate unit and hence inappropriate care is given. Incomplete observation is also a key contributor. The care environment is as well crucial. If it is not secure enough, it may increase chances of suicide and suicide attempts. Staffs also play a role in influencing suicide cases. Insufficient knowledge and skills due to poor training could lead to inappropriate handling of patients deemed to be susceptible to suicidal attempts. All these are issues that could be controlled within health care facilities (The Joint Commission, 1998).
To reduce cases of inpatient suicide brought about by the above named factors, the following should be emphasized. Establishment and implementation of consistent and appropriate observation procedures, making certain that staff are well trained and provided with appropriate orientation as a way of enhancing their work, and checking on the non-breakaway hardware. It is also advisable that education programs and campaigns be undertaken so as to inform people on different issues associated with suicide especially the risk factors. The policies and procedures linked with patient handling should be updated regularly and strictly observed. Security measures within health care facilities should also be reinforced to allow for easy arresting of suicide related activities among the patients. They include appropriate locking mechanisms to minimize cases of running away and attempting suicide, installation of effective patient monitoring systems such as alarms among other measures. Items that could harm the patients should be looked at, for instance, the shower heads and bars and closet bars should be installed in a manner that does not suggest suicide (The Joint Commission, 1998).
From the above discussion, it is evident that although health care facilities are meant to take care of patients in terms of solving their health problems, they are a major contributor of infection cases as well as deaths of patients who die from being infected while in health facilities. Despite this, most cases are not reported to the Joint commission based on various factors for instance the fact that they do not qualify as sentinel events. For this reason, there is dire need for events to be critically analyzed in an effort to identify effective strategies to be employed through provision of all the relevant information. It is very important that good patient care is emphasized in health care institutions as a way of preventing inpatient suicide cases. It is also the responsibility of the management in health care facilities to ensure that the environment of care is appropriate so as to ensure that patients are not in a position of accessing items that could in one way or the other facilitate suicide or are rather harmful.
Reference List
The Joint Commission (1998). Sentinel Event Alert, Issue 7: Inpatient Suicides: Recommendations for Prevention. Web.