A patient is admitted to the mental health unit because of ...

[mmm]

A patient is admitted to the mental health unit because of suicidal ideations and several suicide attempts in the past.
 
  As the nurse manager, you realize that the patient is a safety risk, and you assign one of the staff members to do a 1 to 1 with the client. After lunch, the patient informs the staff member of the need to use the bathroom. After several minutes, the staff member knocks on the bathroom door, but there is no answer. The staff member immediately presses the emergency call light and pushes the door open only to find that the patient has hung herself. The patient's death would be considered which of the following? a. Unfortunate accident c. Grievous error
  b. What the patient really wanted d. Sentinel event

Question 2

A hospital is using the FOCUS methodology to exam issues related to quality improvement. If, during the step of clarifying, it is determined that resources are not in one service alone, which of the following approaches would be best?
 
  a. Ignore the issue
  b. Send ideas to the Quality Management department
  c. Continue to the next step of the process
  d. Ask a group of nurses and physicians to determine why this is occurring

[mochi09]

Answer to Question 1

D
The patient's death would be considered a sentinel event. A sentinel event is an unexpected incident
involving a death or serious physical or psychological injury to a patient. Because the staff member
was assigned as a 1 to 1, the patient should not have ever been out of the staff member's sight.

Answer to Question 2

B
If, during the step of clarifying, it is determined that resources are not in one service alone, the best
approach would be to send ideas to the Quality Management department. The issue should be
addressed before continuing with the steps in the FOCUS process.