Addressing Employee with Mental Health Issues - Essay Sample

In the case scenario, T.C. is showing signs of a person who is psychologically disturbed. Despite her love for the job she does, she cannot work effectively as a team member. She is defined as a competent nurse, which means that her professional discharge of duty to patients is impeccable. However, it is how she relates to other healthcare professionals that require restraint and change. Equality at the workplace is a mandatory requirement for all firms. It is not only a legal requirement to ensure equal treatment of employees, but also an ethical question. The nurse manager in the Telemetry unit cannot dismiss her from the job because it needs to be procedural.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

In healthcare, working in multidisciplinary teams cannot be substituted. Therefore, every nurse needs to work effectively with others, as well as with doctors, physicians, clinicians, and other hospital staff. In that case, the facility may not tolerate the behavior of any nurse who goes on record, having outbursts with other professionals. To achieve the goals and objectives of quality care, they need to work together with great unity. Therefore, any nurse who contravenes the approach of teamwork and takes a different path may not be fit to practice, among others. In an ideal situation, such a nurse should be shown the door and replaced with another.

The law provides that dismissal of an employee from her duty based on mental illness must be derived from some facts (Martin et al., 2015). First, the employee must have been unable to report to work for some time. Second, the employee must have failed to discharge duty based on the illness in question (Martin et al., 2015). Nonetheless, T.C. does not meet either of the two criteria. In fact, she cries in the nurse manager’s office when she is given a day off. Therefore, termination of her contract would be in contravention of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Martin et al., 2015). Dismissal of an employee based on such a claim as mental illness is squarely within the provisions covered in laws against discrimination.

There are also ethical risks associated with cases like that of the nurse. First, the facility risks creating a negative image of how it treats its employees. This would be based on a case where they dismiss a competent nurse because of outbursts caused by anxiety (Martin et al., 2015). Such a situation may lead to high employee turnover, as they are uncertain of their future. Second, it shows poor leadership skills on the part of nurse managers (Martin et al., 2015). Other than letting go, there are better ways to explore the situation and deal with it comprehensively.

T.C. is a competent nurse who needs her employer quite a lot at such a time. She needs help in counseling and coaching to rediscover herself and shake off the psychological challenge. Terminating her from the job would mean the start of an even more challenging time for her. The nurse manager should pair her with a counseling psychologist within the facility; to help her get the assistance she needs (Joyce et al., 2007). She should also undergo a mental examination to determine what exactly is ailing her, making it the basis of her counseling and coaching (Joyce et al., 2007). With such an approach, the hospital and the nurse would be primed to gain from the relationship. Dismissing her could lead to lawsuits, and she might cost the facility a fortune in compensation for damages.

In conclusion, keeping T.C. in her nursing position is more worthwhile than dismissing her. She meets the inherent requirements of her job; hence, there is no legally backed justification of ejecting her from the position. It would be more prudent to get to the bottom of the problem and help her resolve it to a conclusive end. With the resources at a facility’s disposal, she stands a good chance of getting well.

References

Joyce, T., Hazelton, M., & McMillan, M. (2007). Nurses with mental illness: Their workplace experiences. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 16(6), 373-380. Https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1447-0349.2007.00492.x

Martin, A., Woods, M., & Dawkins, S. (2015). Managing employees with mental health issues: identification of conceptual and procedural knowledge for development within management education curricula. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 14(1), 50-68. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2012.0287