Effective Communication for Mentally Ill Patient Discharge Planning

This report critically evaluates the communication processes involved in discharging mentally ill patients, focusing on the role of a mental health nurse in an Australian acute mental health ward. The assignment examines the challenges faced in communicating with families, general practitioners (GPs), and community mental health teams to ensure continuity of care. It identifies the limitations of current communication methods, such as written communication, and their impact on patient follow-up activities, including depot injections, medication management, and appointments. The report analyzes problems like insufficient family support, lack of regular GPs, and delays in community mental health team approvals. Furthermore, it explores best practices, such as patient-centered communication and face-to-face interactions, and proposes ways to improve communication through training, verbal discussions, and technological integration to enhance patient outcomes and streamline the discharge planning process. The report emphasizes the importance of effective communication in facilitating timely and appropriate care for mentally ill patients after discharge, considering factors like patient preferences, care integration, and family involvement.

DISCHARGE PLANNING WITH FAMILY AND
INTERDISCIPLINARY TEAM (GP AND COMMUNITY
MENTAL HEALTH TEAM) FOR THE CONTINUATION OF
CARE ON DISCHARGING MENTALLY ILL PATIENTS
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Introduction
Effective mode of communication in the workplace is helpful to perform a series of activities
efficiently. In this respect, in a healthcare organisation, a mentally ill patient needs critical care
after being discharged. Thereby, caregivers and nurses of that organisation must maintain
effective communication with the family members, GP, as well as the healthcare community
team. The effective communication process has a positive impact on the continuation of care on
discharging mentally ill patients. Clear and effective communication skills are helpful to make
them understand the needs of healthy communication in the workplace. Improper communication
process effects on the post-discharge treatment of the patient.
The concerned essay is focusing on the ways helpful to implement the most efficient
communication practices in the healthcare centre. Along with this, various problems related to
the communication process are also discussed. The person with a mental health condition needs
effective care after discharge so that it is regarded as the duty of nurses to communicate with the
community team and their family members with efficiency.
Analysis
1. Communication process and the needs for improvement
Development of communication in a healthcare organisation is essential to modify the ways of
treatment. In the case of a mentally ill patient, intensive care is essential even after being
discharged. As described by Karanges et al. (2015, p.130), the nurses of the hospital are
responsible for making the family members, as well as members of the community team,
understand the needs of effective post discharged treatment of a mentally ill patient. In this
respect, it can be stated that proper communication with general practitioners and medical
community team, is important to enhance the mental condition of the patient after being
discharged from the hospital. In this regard, mostly written communication method has been
used in the hospital. The written communication process is not an effective mode of
communication, as there are not adequate numbers of family members in a patient's family. As
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mentioned by Bonaccio et al. (2016, p.1045), improper communication method may create
problems for the patient for having proper care process after being discharged. It is regarded as a
key duty of nurses and caregivers to maintain healthy communication in the hospital with
patients' families at the time of discharge.
In this respect, the healthcare organisation faces critical problems in making general
practitioners, as well as family members of the patient, understand the ways of post-discharge
treatment. Often it has been seen that mentally ill patient needs to undergo through several
follow up treatment such as depot injection, oral psychotropic drug and blood test. Written
communication is not critically effective to perform all these follow up activities in an effective
manner. In the words of Linton et al. (2016, p.152), maintaining follow up activities is helpful
for a person with a mental health condition to have a quick recovery. In this respect, written
communication is not critically helpful to have approval from the community mental health
team. Thereby, the development of the mode of communication appears essential to enhance the
mental condition of the patient who is mentally ill.
Moreover, it has been seen that some mentally ill patient cannot get a good regular GP.
Moreover, sometimes, they have insufficient family members to take proper care of them.
Hence, development of communication process is critically essential. Timed and accurate
discharge communication is important for continuing patient care between hospitals as well as
primary caregivers. As opined by Martin and Nakayama (2015, p.16), communication in
healthcare is considered as an enigma, which is detrimental. This fact has been supported by Hall
(2016, p.37) by stating it that the effective mode of communication is helpful to enhance the
resulting health condition of the patient. Thus, efficient communication is essential for
maintaining interpersonal connections among the individuals involved in the healthcare process
of a mentally ill patient. Thereby, the development of communication is necessary for terms of
both formal and informal mode. In this respect, it can be stated that only written communication
is not at all advantageous to provide proper care to the mentally ill patient after they are being
discharged from hospital.
2. Problems in the communication process
The ineffective communication process has a huge impact on the caregiving process. According
to the views of Nordbäck et al. (2017, p.400), written communication is not always effective to
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communicate with patients and their families in a healthcare organisation. Often it has been
observed that the patients always do not have sufficient numbers of family members, as well as
general practitioners, are not willing to check the written documents. At this moment, these
issues create huge problems in terms of having effective help from different caregivers. In the
case of mentally ill patients, they face critical problems to have proper care after being
discharged. Moreover, it has been seen that some patients do not comply with the follow-up
activities of GP as well as community mental health follow up. Thus the inappropriate
communication system affects the post discharged service system of a mentally ill patient.
Sometimes vital information about patient's health may be looked over by the physicians to
write. Thereby, Merckaert et al. (2015, p.907), stated that poor communication method is
harmful, which impacts on the development of patient's mental health negatively. Moreover,
poor communication through written mode affects frequent interaction among GP and patient
families. In this respect, Denniston et al. (2019, p.40), described that improper coordination
between general practitioners and patient is effective to make the patient waiting for a longer
period to have proper medical treatment. Most strikingly, improper communication in mental
health care organisation affects the decision-making process in an efficient manner. On an
argumentative note, Hall (2016, p.36), mentioned that the decision making process is not
critically dependent on communication process rather than it is dependent on organisational
culture. In this respect, it has been observed that inefficient communication is not helpful to
identify health-related issues and apply proper strategies for treatment. Thereby, the mentally ill
patients and their families face problems to interact with general practitioners.
Inappropriate communication method affects the smooth processing of medical treatment. It has
been observed that medical error is a common drawback of maintaining poor communication in
the workplace. Due to the involvement of poor communication method family members of the
patient becomes unable to understand proper ways to take care of mentally ill patients. As a
result of it, they cannot understand the symptoms, medication process as well as safety measures
of patient affected with a serious mental disorder. This fact has been supported by Bergman et al.
(2016, p.535), by stating that maintaining documentation is essential to involve the effective
mode of communication in healthcare. On a contradictory note, it has been denied by Bonanno et
al. (2017, p.175), that non-verbal communication is less effective to verbal communication. Non-
verbal communication affects the process of medical treatment by developing the previously
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discussed issues concerning mentally ill patients.
3. Best practice of communication
Best practice of communication is needed to be applied in a healthcare organisation to enhance
the mode of treatment. Moreover, healthy communication practices are advantageous to
influence the family members of patients in terms of providing them effective healthcare process
after being discharged. In this respect, it can be stated that frequent verbal discussion is one of
the most effective communication practices that are beneficial to make the family members as
well as general practitioners aware about ways to treat the mentally ill patients after they are
being discharged. In the words of Ammendolia et al. (2016, p.1192), patient centred practice in
a communication practice that is beneficial to interact with general practitioners as well as
medical community team in an effective manner. In this respect, Amossé et al. (2016, p.76), has
supported the implementation of this communication practice and stated that providing proper
mental support to patients is helpful to access different kinds of the medical care process.
Thereby, alignment of this practice with the mode of communication appears important to treat
the mentally ill patient in their residence. This practice is focused on some critical areas such as
providing importance to patients’ preferences, care integration process, providing physical
comfort as well as involving family and friends into care process and maintaining continuity of
medical treatment.
This mode of practice is helpful to train the general practitioners regarding the essential ways to
deal with mentally ill patients. As commented by Sacks et al. (2015, p.460), the medical
community team is needed to be efficient enough to provide mental support to patients. In this
respect, this communication practice has appeared helpful for the community team to analyse the
mental condition of seriously ill mental patient. Moreover, this practice can be helpful to educate
the family members of the mentally ill patient by facilitating their sense of self-care. It is greatly
helpful for them to have a quick recovery. In this respect, Wu et al. (2017, p.1497) supported this
fact and opined that it the duty of family members of patients to provide them proper mental and
emotional support. This appears helpful to involve the individuals into the patient centred care
process.
Thereby, it can be stated that this communication practice has a critical impact on developing the
care process to the mentally ill patient after their discharge. As stated by Boissy et al. (2016,
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p.760), face to face communication is effectively better than written communication. In case of
face to face, communication is helpful for both parties to listen as well as express their views
regarding health concerns. Besides, Kent et al. (2016, p.116), demonstrated that proper facial
expressions and body language are helpful for the family members of patient know the actual
meaning of care process. In this respect, the involvement of efficient technology can be greatly
helpful. In this regard, the involvement of effective verbal communication method is helpful to
maintain patient centred care practice of communication. This is beneficial for providing greater
care for the mentally ill patient after they are being discharged from hospitals.
4. Ways to improve communication
Involvement of effective ways to improve communication is crucial in a healthcare organisation.
In this respect, it has been observed that in this particular workplace, mentally ill patients are
subjected to face various problems in terms of having post-discharge care. According to the
words of Nichols et al. (2015, p.25), adequate ways of communication needs to be maintained by
nurses in a healthcare hospital which becomes helpful to make the patient families aware about
severity the mental health of the particular patient.
It can be stated that patient centred care practice of communication is the most effective to
overcome critical issues related to the concerned organisation. In this respect, it has been
observed that there are a huge number of mentally ill patient who lacks adequate numbers of
supportive family members. Along with this, lack of interaction with efficient general
practitioners is one of the major issues that are faced by the patient greatly. In the views of
Lundgren and McMakin (2018, p.36), patient centred care practice of communication is helpful
to maintain coordination in GP’s activities. Thereby, effective verbal communication becomes
helpful to make them understand about need of their presence for treating a mentally ill patient
after discharge.
Moreover, in the case of the concerned health care hospital, the mentally ill patients are unable to
get timed approval from the mental health team. This, in turn, impacts upon acceptance of follow
up process from the parts of general practitioners as well as community mental health team. The
proper way of communication is helpful to develop the efficiency of the medical team to access
front line patient care for the patients who are mentally ill. On the other hand, Moreland and
Apker (2016, p.817), stated that providing proper training to the medical team can be helpful for
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easy diagnosis of mental condition. Thereby, the involvement of efficient verbal communication
method is helpful to train the health service providers for providing effective care process to the
mentally ill patient after they are being discharged. Thus, patient centred communication practice
is the most effective one to enhance the communication process in the concerned healthcare
organisation in terms of providing information to patients’ family members regarding care
process after they are being discharged. Involvement of this practice into organisational culture
is effective to reduce risk intensities related to the inappropriate mode of communication.
5. Changes needed to improve communication
Proper changes are needed to improve communication in a healthcare organisation. In this
regard, Clayton et al. (2016, p.10), development of the mode of communication is effective to
serve the patient healthily. This concept has been supported by Jamieson and Tuckey (2017,
p.182) and it has been mentioned that incorporation of the effective communication system as
well as surveying the patient to analyse their needs are helpful to enhance the mode of
communication in a healthcare organisation. In the case of a mentally ill patient, it is necessary to
review their mental condition by maintaining a specific time gap. In this regard, the general
medical practitioners can be trained to deal with patients having serious mental conditions.
Besides, community medical team can be engaged in helping patients' families to provide
effective care process to the ill. This, in turn, appears beneficial to enhance patient's satisfaction.
As commented by Mĺkva et al. (2016, p.331), conducting regular meetings with workers is
helpful to find out the essentiality of maintaining healthy communication with general
practitioners, community medical team as well as family members of the patients who are
mentally ill.
Along with this, it can be stated that the involvement of modern technologies can facilitate the
development of the communication process. This concept has been supported by Maatouk-
Bürmann et al. (2016, p.119), and he stated it that involvement of modern technologies could be
helpful to store relevant data related to the patient's health condition. This is critically helpful for
medical community team and general practitioners to provide effective care process to mentally
ill patients. Along with this, engagement of video conferencing is considered as one of the
effective mediums to develop face to face communication between the patient’s family and
health care providers. By applying these concerned ways, mode of communication can be
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developed to provide effective health service to mentally ill individuals after they are being
discharged from hospitals.
6. Comparison between best practice and the communication issues
Healthy communication practices are advantageous to influence the family members of patients
in terms of providing them effective healthcare process. This fact is strongly supported by Zielke
et al. (2015, p.340) by stating it that services and regular meetings are helpful to enhance the
enthusiasm of general practitioners to help the patient's family to take care of the mentally ill
individual. In this respect, it can be stated that frequent verbal discussion is one of the most
effective communication practices that is advantageous to make the community medical team
aware of essentially of treating mentally ill people effectively. Thereby, it can be stated that these
concerned ways can help develop the mode of communication in a healthcare organisation. In
this regard, Lundgren and McMakin (2018, p.65), has argued on the fact that the involvement of
digital communication technique in organisational culture may affect the patient's satisfaction
negatively.
Implementation of the patient-centric communication process is more efficient than the written
mode of communication. On the contrary, Moreland and Apker (2016, p.818), opined that proper
implementation of this concerned practice could be achieved only by developing the skills and
efficiency of general practitioners and the medical team. Along with this, the concerned
organisation can involve effective technologies to provide benefits to patients in terms of
recovering from a serious mental disorder. It has been observed that mentally ill patients are
dependent on the frequency of the communication process. Maintaining frequent communication
with them is helpful for them to get rid of critical mental issues. At this moment, healthcare
providers must make the family members of patients aware of ways of developing the mental
condition of the affected individual. Supporting this fact, Wu et al. (2017, p.1500), mentioned
that primary caregivers must implement patient-centric communication practice by developing a
mode of communication with general practitioners as well as a community medical team.
According to the views of Aras and Crowther (2016, p.55) planning for discharge of patients
needs to involve healthy communication process. This can be helpful to influence the family
caregivers as well as the medical team to take care of mentally ill patients after they are
discharged. It can be stated that the lack of interaction with efficient general practitioners is one
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of the major issues that is faced by the patient greatly. In this respect, collaboration with patients’
family and health care team can be helpful to make them aware of the needs of the caregiving
process after they are discharged. Denniston et al. (2019, p.42) supported this concept and stated
that providing proper training to medical practitioners for maintaining healthy communication in
the workplace appears helpful. This, in turn, is effective to develop awareness among family
members of the concerned patient for providing them with proper support in need.
Conclusion
Thus it can be concluded that maintenance of an effective communication method is helpful to
the uplift the mental condition of patients affected with a serious disorder. The SBAR four-part
communication tool is helpful to denote the fact that effective medical caregiving process can be
enhanced by analysing the critical condition of a patient with immense efficiency. This appears
helpful to assess the mental condition of the patient and thereby, recommendations are made.
Thereby, it can be stated that this communication practice has a critical impact on developing the
care process to the mentally ill patient after their discharge. In the concerned case, the patient-
centric communication method has been taken as the effective practice of communication.
This mode of practice is helpful to train the general practitioners regarding the essential ways to
deal with mentally ill patients. Often it has been seen that mentally ill patient needs to undergo
through several follow up treatment so that implementation of healthy communication is
essential for helping them to get rid of mental illness. This practice is focused on some critical
areas such as providing importance to patients’ preferences, care integration process, providing
physical comfort as well as involving family and friends into care process and maintaining
continuity of medical treatment. Thereby, the development of communication method helps
people with a mental health condition to upgrade their mental conditions by having proper
support from caregivers.
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