Question

Henry McConnell has been in ministry at her survey with the drink machine for five years he's currently serves in the survey team reviewing a large which Midwestern

424 Navigating the Accreditation Certification, or Licensure Process Case Study Henry McConnell has been an administrator surveyor with the Joint Commission to five years. He currently serves on a survey team reviewing a large midwestern tertia care facility. The survey is going well, and he and the nurse member of the team are visiting the patient care areas of the facility. The chief operating officer (COO) and the chief nursing officer (CNO) accompany the two surveyors to various nursing units. They decide to visit the inpatient psychiatric unit. This particular inpatient psychiatric unit cares for people with psychotic and other severe emotional disturbances. Many of the patients on the unit frequently suffer hal. lucinations. Others have had prehospital episodes of violence toward others. The unit is known in psychiatric medicine as a "locked facility," meaning that special keys are necessary to enter or exit the unit. As McConnell and his fellow nurse surveyor approach the unit with the COO and the CNO, the COO comments on the level of acute psychiatric patients that the institu- tion commonly houses in the unit. She points out that the double doors are made of metal with wired glass windows and that the doors are locked from both sides. She makes a production of getting out her door access card to the unit so that they can enter, making sure that the two surveyors see that the doorknobs will not open the doors and that one can enter only with an access card. After they all pass through the doors, she turns around to show them that the doors have closed securely behind them. They then turn to go onto the unit to do the review. The COO and the CNO walk carefully out in front of the surveyors toward the nursing station, the surveyors follow- ing a little ways behind. One of the first things McConnell observes is a 3-foot-long red- handled fireman's axe located about 5 feet inside the doorway and up near the ceiling. CASE STUDY QUESTIONS 1. How did the axe get there? 2. What common characteristic of healthcare organizations discussed in the Back- around and Significance" section of this chapter is exhibited in this case? 3. How could a potentially dangerous situation such as this be avoided?

Answer 1

1. The following are the possibilities: -

- An incident of a patient stuck inside the locked room would have caused the staff to use the axe, but have not taken it back.

-A bad case of negligence by an employee who got that into the ward and did not take it back .

- Locked firebox was checked and was not relocked

- An unruly patient reached and got the axe out.

2. All the staffs of the healthcare organisations must be aware of the rules and regulations of using a fire extinguisher and how to use it safely without harming the patients . They should be aware of the complications that would occur due to negligence and malpractice .

3. Such a potentially dangerous situation can be avoided by the following :-

- strict monitoring in the ward by incharges

- proper training of staffs

- strictly following the rules and regulations