Business Plan for a Wellness and Recovery Center for Deinstitutianal Dissertation

Business Plan for a Wellness and Recovery Center for Deinstitutianal Individuals - Dissertation Example Adult Day Treatment Programs in community health care centers may offer such interventions. McQueeney (1996) investigated the effects of hospitalization as opposed to day treatment programs and found that staying in mental health hospitals for a prolonged period of time promoted dependent behaviors and decreased functionality of the patients. On the contrary, day treatment programs not only exposed patients to community life but also enabled patients such as those with schizophrenia and active psychosis to productively participate in the interventions, become more independent and achieve community living skills. The medical model of adult day health care offers skilled therapeutic services from nurses, therapists, social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, geriatric physicians and others (National Care Planning Council, 2012). For nurse-led community-based health centers, psychiatric evaluations, medication management, monitoring for side effects, medication education, and symptom management training are provided by the nurse practitioner and done on each patient in conjunction with the consulting psychiatrist and with assistance by the nursing staff. Adult day care providers with this kind of model are assisted by the Medicaid system by receiving payments for services under special Medicaid programs or under Medicaid waiver programs for home care. Such services intend to rehabilitate patients towards recovery while ensuring their health and wellness. Adult day care keeps patients active and engaged while they learn skills for reintegration into the community setting (National Care Planning Council, 2012). Studies have shown that community-based health centers catering to the mentally ill have been effective in reducing re-hospitalization rates and success in employment especially when the patients participate in multifamily group treatments (McFarlane et al., 1996). Similar findings came out of a study by Kuipers (1996) indicating that day treatment interve ntions were effective in helping schizophrenics manage and reduce their overall symptoms most especially when treatments are combined with family therapy. Nursing Care Nursing care at the community level has shown much positive outcomes for patients with mental illness, providing them with a better quality of life. Community nurses are adept in identifying changes in the behavior or symptoms of patients and in implementing strategies involving â€Å"screening, assistance with medications, monitoring for changes over time, referral and, perhaps, psychotherapies like counselling† (Thomson et al., 2008, p. 1420). Most of the time, only qualified mental health professionals like psychologists, psychiatrists, or even mental health nurses can conduct mental health assessment. However, community nurses may screen for the possibility of mental illness to be referred to qualified assessors. Flaskerud (2010) reports that the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, a physicians group, encourages e xpanded roles for Nurse Practitioners. One evidence of this is their recommendation to remove legal and reimbursement barriers that prevent nurse practitioners from delivering primary care service and to include them in multidisciplinary teams of primary care providers (Josiah Macy Foundation, 2010). Indeed, the