Occupational Health Research: The Central Nervous System (Coursework Sample)

Instructions:

Janet K. had suffered from epilepsy since she was an infant. Her condition was well controlled as she entered adulthood, and she was able to complete a nursing program in good health. She particularly enjoyed working as a scrub nurse in the operating room. Upon graduation she applied at the large university teaching hospital where she had performed her clinical work during her nursing program. The hospital knew of her epilepsy history and offered her a job in their medical records department. Janet petitioned to be able to work in surgery, but the hospital administrators felt that it was too dangerous for Janet and the surgical patients if she should have a seizure there.
While working in medical records, Janet's seizures began to return. She would have a seizure at least every month, even though her medications had been changed. Janet noticed that some of her fellow medical records technicians would stay away from her for fear of having to help her during a seizure. One afternoon a physician was dictating his case records in a cubicle next to Janet's when she had a seizure. He helped her and then went to the hospital administrator and told her that Janet should not be allowed to work in a hospital since it gave the hospital, with its image of healing, a bad reputation.
Janet was terminated at the age of 27 due to health issues. She died of a brain tumor five years later.
Answer the follow questions in essay form (3-5 double-spaced pages):
1. Are there some medical or mental conditions that should prevent a person from working in a hospital or other medical setting? If so, what are they?
There are several conditions that can prevent a person from working in a medical setup. They can be classified into mental and medical conditions.
Mental Conditions
These are disorders that affect the central nervous system, distorting the way you think, your moods and behaviour. Some of these conditions may hinder a person from working in a hospital or any medical setup. This is because they can endanger the lives of the patients and co-workers. Some of these conditions include:
i. Psychiatric disorders- These are conditions that affects the behavioural and mental patterns leading to
2. What should have been done when Janet's co-workers shunned her?
3. Was the physician who helped Janet when she had a seizure correct in asking the hospital administrator to dismiss (fire) her?
4. Should Janet have been given the opportunity to work in surgery? Why or why not?

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Content:

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH STUDENTS NAME TUTORS NAME COURSE TITLE INSTITUTION NAME DATE OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

1. Are there some medical or mental conditions that should prevent a person from working in a hospital or other medical setting? If so, what are they?

There are several conditions that can prevent a person from working in a medical setup. They can be classified into mental and medical conditions. Mental Conditions These are disorders that affect the central nervous system, distorting the way you think, your moods and behavior. Some of these conditions may hinder a person from working in a hospital or any medical setup. This is because they can endanger the lives of the patients and co-workers. Some of these conditions include:

Psychiatric disorders- These are conditions that affects the behavioral and mental patterns leading to suffering and poor ability to function in life. Examples of such disorders include:
Schizophrenia: this is an acute mental illness that characterized by abnormal social behaviors. This includes delusions and hallucinations where one fails to differentiate what is real and unreal. This may pose a big problem when working in a hospital or any medical setup since poor judgment and course of action will always endanger the life of a patient. Major depressive disorders are also another major factor in here; it comes along with low moods across all activities. This is accompanied by low self-esteem leading to pain without course and low energy. This deems unfit for a person for a person with such condition to work in a hospital since they are far way fetched from the goal of serving patients with all energy and willingness.
Uncontrolled seizures/ epilepsy: These are epileptic disorders that are uncontrollable despite medical treatment. These may present with cognitive and emotional difficulties.

Medical conditions: These are conditions such as:
1. Disabilities: Some disabilities cannot allow a person to work in a hospital or any medical setup. These includes:

Eye Problems such as;

Blindness: A person who cannot see cannot be able to work in a hospital setup
Diplopia: A person with double vision may harm the patient while giving an injection.
Nystigmus: This is uncoordinated eye rolling. May present same challenge as Diplopia.

Communicable diseases such as Ebola, Hepatitis B, Multiple Drug Resistant Tuberculosis. Such conditions are highly communicable and may require isolation. A person with these conditions will be endangering the patients and the colleagues. This is contrary to the main goal where he or she should be helping patients not endangering them.
Chronic diseases such as decompensated congestive cardiac failure. This leads to multisystem involvement rendering a patient generally weak.
Cerebral vascular accidents (stroke). This may present with paralysis and the patient will be weak and bed-ridden.
Metastasized cancer. This is the final stage of cancer. It makes a patient weak and prone to other illnesses. This means that working in a hospital will only present her to a higher risk of such.
2. What should have been done when Janet co-workers shunned her?

Janet being shunned by her colleagues was not the best course of action to take. This was a medical condition that anyone is prone to, more so, disability is not incapability. Her colleagues had known her well and had worked with her for quite a long time. Being in a hospital implies that they should have been the one to understand her better than anyone else. It was an implication that the colleagues needed some enlightening on providing psycho-social support. Stigmatization could trigger frequent attacks which may lead to low self-esteem and loss of confidence in her, other colleagues and the clients she was attending to.

3. Was the physician who helped Janet when she had a seizure correct in asking the hospital administrator to dismiss (fire) her?

No. dismissal of a Janet should be the last thing the administrator should resort to. The call by the physician to the administrator to dismiss Janet was unfair. A dismissal should call for ample investigation without any delay to establish solid facts. The physician’s request for her dismissal could have been out of pity or an inconsiderate decision which he should not have made. Janet has a ...

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Occupational Health Research: The Central Nervous System (Coursework Sample)

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