Topic: Addressing Employee with Mental Health Issues
Discussion Debate Paper Instructions: Students must respond to an ethical issue in professional practice (legal and moral) and present both sides of the issue from their research (positive aspects of the topic and negative aspects on the topic). Students must then from their research take one stand on the issue from their best judgment. Students must properly cite the source(s) used for their research and the position they took on one particular side of the issue. The debate topic will be decided by the course professor and is listed below (response should be no more than two (2) pages double spaced):
Discussion Debate Topic- Addressing Employee with Mental Health Issues (Case Study)
Your Role: You are the Director of Nursing (DON) of your hospital.
T.C. is a 38-year-old nurse who graduated three (3) years ago from a BSN program. She maintained a 3.00 GPA while working as a supervisor in a convenient store. T.C. is also a member of the local Nurses Association. T.C. has had several outbursts on the Telemetry unit; a unit that she has worked since graduation. She attributes these outbursts to anxiety and job related stress. She has been reprimanded by the nurse manager on numerous occasions. Additionally, she has had verbal altercations with various physicians as well; all of which she justifies as legitimate. She is a caring and competent nurse. You received a call from F.J., the nurse manager of the Telemetry unit with a brief scenario of the incident, which he then followed up with the email below:
I spoke to T.C., privately in my office this morning and informed her of my assessment that she was not prepared to function on the unit today. She began to cry and would not stop. I was afraid to leave her in the office alone for a minute, in fear that she would do something to herself or me. I excused her for today, but she continued to cry uncontrollably when I attempted to speak with her. She was unable to listen and she would not leave the unit. I was tempted to call security but I did not want to create a scene. She finally left the unit after much coaxing and coaching. I have other duties and responsibilities and cannot deal with this behavior on a busy medical unit. She is not psychologically well enough to be in the nursing profession and needs extensive counseling. I do not want her back on my unit at this time. F.J., CCRN, Nurse Manager-Telemetry Unit. Additionally, F.J. has sent several e-mails to her nurse manager colleagues on other units and has verbally discussed this with some of her subordinates too.
Also, include your response to the following points listed below in your written assignment:
1) What legal and ethical issues are involved in this case?
2) What do you perceive as the best way to manage this situation; with particular considerations of best practices? This requires some research to determine what those might be.
3) Follow the criteria for evaluation of discussion debate for other details to support your discussion.
This assignment should be no more than 2 – 3 typed pages in APA format. No abstract required; but
The must have cover page, sources and reference page.
