Question: Case study of Priti: Priti is a 34 year old woman with a diagnosis of depression.

Assessment Task

Maintaining public confidence in healthcare is key to ensure that people access services when needed and receive effective, evidence based care. When things go wrong, it is important to investigate what happened and learn from any errors that have been made.

You will be asked to report on a case scenario that describes an event where a complaint has been made. You will need to identify key issues that may have not met the NMC Code of professional Conduct and how national legislation is in place to help protect the individual from harm. You will also be expected to link to the findings from previous investigations and how these may impact on the

You will make recommendations for change that will improve patient care and the professional behaviour of staff members, if appropriate.

Case Scenario:

Priti is a 34 year old woman with a diagnosis of depression. After expressing suicidal ideas and thoughts, she agreed to be treated voluntarily as an inpatient on a local psychiatric ward. Once admitted to the ward, she was concerned that she would not be able to improve in the environment due to the other patients appearing strange to her and the ward being locked all of the time. After a few hours, Priti came to the nursing office and stated that she wanted to go home, to be looked after by her family and receive treatment at home from the Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Team.

The nurse in charge explained that Priti was naturally distressed and that she should go to bed and they would review this the next morning when Priti has calmed down. She recognised that although Priti was adamant to leave, it is in her best interests to stay, to ensure that she is safe and does not harm herself. The doctor on call had prescribed 7.5mg of Zopiclone and this was administered.  Priti felt tired and slept.

Her husband arrived the next day and stated that he was unhappy to hear that his wife was not being allowed to leave the ward. The nurse explained that the ward is locked for the safety of all of the patients. They explained that it was usual for patients to stay for 72 hours, so that they can compete an assessment, so that they can complete a full assessment of her mental health and any risk of harm to herself or others. Priti agreed and the nurse did not take any further action.

Learning Outcomes

This assessment will enable students to demonstrate in full or in part the learning outcomes identified in the unit descriptors.

• Understand and act within the NMC Code of Professional Conduct.
• Critique serious incidents and identify the lessons learned.
• Understand what to do when care is inadequate and how to know when care is exemplary.
• Recommend actions to be taken to improve care outcomes and public confidence.

Assessment criteria

You will be assessed on how well you have met the learning outcomes above and the following elements:

Introduction:

This is where you are providing and overview of what you plan to discuss in this assignment.

Case review:

You should not include the case scenario in full. You should only include the key points that you wish to discuss.

Identify the areas that may have contributed to a failure in practice or procedure in the scenario. Consider how this links to best practice and the national policies. Consider how previous serious incident reviews should influence the practice in the case study.

Identify any positive or negative actions by the nursing team and consider if it links to the NMC Code of Conduct.

Identify relevant legislation that will impact on the decision making and was this adhered to.

Summarise any recommendations that you have identified. This should be linked to the outcomes of previous serious incident reviews that you have included in the previous part of the assignment.

Conclusion:

This is a summary of what you have written and learned, having completed the assignment. There should be no new information in this section.