Respond to this post with a positive response :

Ask a probing question, substantiated with additional background information, evidence or research.

Share an insight from having read your colleagues’ postings, synthesizing the information to provide new perspectives.

Offer and support an alternative perspective using readings from the classroom or from your own research in the Walden Library.

Validate an idea with your own experience and additional research.

Make a suggestion based on additional evidence drawn from readings or after synthesizing multiple postings.

Expand on your colleagues’ postings by providing additional insights or contrasting perspectives based on readings and evidence.

Use at least 3 references

                                   The Stigma of Mental Illness

As a society, how do we view mental illness? Often with disdain, discomfort, or fear. Often we ridicule people with mental health disorders.  Our culture fosters negative views of mental illness by using terms such as “crazy”, “nuts”, “psycho”, and the media perpetuates these concepts by depicting people with mental illness as scary, silly, stupid, or defective.

The policy issue that most affects my professional, as well as, personal life is Disability.  I am a psychiatric nurse who also happens to have a mental health issues. Mental illness discrimination and access to healthcare are protections meant to be provided under the law. According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), it is illegal to revoke licensure or otherwise prevent a healthcare provider from working due to mental disorders. The conditions included are illnesses such as depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. Another form of discrimination the ADA protects is “employment tests or other selection criteria that screen out or tend to screen out an individual with a disability or a class of individuals with disabilities” (Samuel, L, 2017). However, professional licensing boards still actively engage in discriminatory actions every single day. “Boards’ hands are often tied in terms of what state legislatures will let them do” (Dyrbye, 2017). According, to Dyrbye, at the state level, the quandary is between protecting the public from impaired healthcare workers and the provider’s right to make a living. New studies have shown that nearly 40% of physicians and an even higher percentage of nurses reported that they would be reluctant to seek formal medical care for treatment of a mental health condition because of concerns about repercussions to their licensure.

In the Kingdon’s Model the problem is having special protections under the American Disabilities Act (ADA) to prevent increased discrimination for licensed professional healthcare workers suffering from mental illness who are far more susceptible to bias related to the nature of their professions as providers of patient care.

A policy stream can easily be defined as a think tank.  The primary objective is to collaborate to refine the problem to best address the proposed policy.  In the case of disabilities related to mental illness in healthcare professionals this may be difficult because it is a narrowly defined subset of both the mentally ill and the disabled populations.  However, because the subset can pull from two communities for support it may be easier gain support.  Ultimately, the goal is to put policy into law that forces all healthcare licensure boards and healthcare employers from gathering mental health information and that employers will face serious penalties for discrimination and/or wrongful termination.  The burden of proof is then on the employer rather than the employee to prove rational for separation.

Engaging members from all facets of the healthcare community, as well as, the American Psychiatric Association (ADA) to serve as experts is paramount in generating political support.  Having political connections foster influence from organizations such as NAMI, MHA, Congressman LaHood from IL, Representative Tim Murphy from PA, Linda Rosenberg, CEO of the National Council for Behavioral Health, Executive Director of Mental Illness Policy Org DJ Jaffe, ANA, AMA, and EEOC.  Finally, identifying successful lobbyists to push policy forward is fundamentally crucial if any bill is to become law. Eliciting the support of a successful lobbyist can help to identify windows of opportunity and to approach legislators at the right time and under the best circumstance to have a bill well received.

Reference

Dyrbye, L., West C., Synsky, C., goders, L., Satele, D., Shanafelt, T. (2017). Medical Licensure    Questions and Physician Reluctance to Seek Care for Mental Health Conditions. Mayo Clinic Proceedings. 92, 10, p1463-1604, e133-e153. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2017.06.020

 

Farmer, J., (2011, May 16). Disclosing a Mental Health Problem to an Employer. The Guardian. Retrieved by https://www.theguardian.com/careers/careers-blog/mental-health-at-work

John Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Politics, 2nd ed. (New York: Harper Collins, 1995). p. 19.

Samuel, L; (2017, October 16). Stat. Doctors Fear Mental Health Disclosure Could Jeopardize Their Licenses. Retrieved from https://www.statnews.com/2017/10/16/doctors-mental-health-licenses/

  

Directions: 

Please complete the 4 scenarios. Post it in the discussion board and briefly respond to 2 classmates. 

1. A nurse on a medical‑surgical unit is acquainting a group of nurses with the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) initiative. 

a. RELATED CONTENT: List the six QSEN competencies, along with a brief description of each.

2. A nurse is teaching a group of newly licensed nurses about the various nursing roles they can aspire to after they achieve mastery in basic nursing skills. 

a. RELATED CONTENT: Describe at least five types of advance practice nursing roles, including a brief description of their primary responsibilities.

3. A nurse is teaching a group of newly licensed nurses about the process of resolving ethical dilemmas. 

a. UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES: Define the ethical decision‑making process.

b.  NURSING INTERVENTIONS: List the steps of making an ethical decision

4. A nurse is teaching a group of newly licensed nurses about avoiding liability for negligence. Use the ATI Active Learning Template: Basic Concept to complete this item. 

a. UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES: List the five elements necessary to prove negligence.

b. NURSING INTERVENTIONS: List at least four ways nurses can avoid liability for negligence.

The growth, development, and learned behaviors that occur during the   first year of infancy have a direct effect on the individual   throughout a lifetime. For this assignment, research an environmental   factor that poses a threat to the health or safety of infants and   develop a health promotion that can be presented to caregivers.

Create a 10-12 slide PowerPoint health promotion, with speaker   notes, that outlines a teaching plan. For the presentation of your   PowerPoint, use Loom to create a voice over or a video. Include an   additional slide for the Loom link at the beginning, and an additional   slide for references at the end.

Include the following in your presentation:

1. Describe the selected environmental factor. Explain how the     environmental factor you selected can potentially affect the health     or safety of infants.
2. Create a health promotion plan that     can be presented to caregivers to address the environmental factor     and improve the overall health and well-being of infants.
3. Offer recommendations on accident prevention and safety     promotion as they relate to the selected environmental factor and     the health or safety of infants.
4. Offer examples,     interventions, and suggestions from evidence-based research. At     least three scholarly resources are required. Two of the three     resources must be peer-reviewed and no more than 6 years old.
5. Provide readers with two community resources, a national     resource, and a Web-based resource. Include a brief description and     contact information for each resource.
6. In developing your     PowerPoint, take into consideration the health care literacy level     of your target audience, as well as the demographic of the     caregiver/patient (socioeconomic level, language, culture, and any     other relevant characteristic of the caregiver) for which the     presentation is tailored

 

• Compare the use of cognitive behavioral therapy for families to cognitive behavioral therapy for individuals
• Analyze challenges of using cognitive behavioral therapy for families
• Recommend effective cognitive behavioral therapy strategies for families
•  Provide specific examples from your own practicum experiences. Then, explain challenges counselors might encounter when using CBT in the family setting. Support your position with specific examples.