THE ROLES OF A SERVICE MANAGER IN LEADING THE COMMUNITY PSYCHIATRIC SERVICE

Organizations represent rationally organized instruments for the achievement of stated goals. Such goals can be, for instance, to fulfill an obligation that is directed to the entire group. However, some goals are directed to specific departments as well as individual staff in an organization. In the hierarchical structure that organizations adopt, jobs have a job description that assists the organization to function. One of the integral elements of the current mental health service remains the community psychiatrist teams. Through their development, patients care improves where others are transferred to other institutions for more care. According to the study by Ritter, Teller & Munetz (2018), community-based psychiatrist programs primarily reduce suicidal rates in communities, they also improve the mentally ill patients’ care, creates mental health awareness other benefits. The position of a service manager and especially in a community psychiatrist service is crucial. The service manager manages the service department as well as handling customer service interactions that work towards maintaining strong relationships with stakeholders. In a community psychiatrist service, the service manager works as a staff manager, case manager, recruitment officer, mentor, record manager, strategic management planner, and supervisor, among other roles. 

Firstly, service managers in community psychiatrist services have a role of managing day to day activities in the facility. Over the years, the community psychiatrist services are known to provide nursing care and treatment for patients in either at their home or even community-built clinics. Fulfilling the task requires a multidisciplinary team that consists of specialties trained qualified nurses, among other mental health specialists (Ritter, Teller & Munetz, 2018, p.1004). For the service managers, they have a great responsibility for managing day to day operations in the ward unit and outpatient departments. This managing happens in community-built clinicians. In the book titled “A Nurse’s Survival Guide to Leadership and Management on the Ward – E-Book,” Dolan and Overend argue that creating a positive ward environment is a challenge that ward managers face. In this case, it is imperative to make the ward team feel that they are an essential element. On working toward motivating the employees, the ward manager can embark on celebrating his/her team’s success. In many ways, the ward team feels empowered and gain confidence when their hard work is recognized. 

Supervision of the ward and the unit staff is another role that the service managers have in leading the community psychologist service. In this case, the service manager ensures that the united team delivers quality care to the patients. In many ways, many mental health experts, including psychiatrist nurses, went to the profession to make a difference in patient’s lives. When they are recognized, they get motivated to do more. The service manager has a role in improving the ward’s teamwork, morale, and job satisfaction that leads to the provision of quality care (Dolan &Overend, 2018, p.45). With proper supervision, patients are adequately taken care of that fastens their recovery. Additionally, the service manager can note issues that the employees may be going through and work on resolving them. Supervision becomes easy if the team members are already motivated.

Service managers in a community psychiatrist service also develop budgets and ensure that all areas of an organization are allocated some budget. Without budgeting, the organization may lack coordination that results in ineffectiveness and increased costs (Gealan, 2013, p.5). For such organizations, the operating budget is portrayed as a master strategy of action for the organization as a whole. According to the study by Gealan (2013), budgeting is related to the patient’s care since it affects the clinical care degree as well as the manner of provision. In this case, the service managers in a community psychiatrist service should develop budgeting skills. In these institutions, a lot of money may be required to purchase the equipment, among other tools that contribute towards taking care of the patients (Gealan, 2013, p. 5). In this case, the service managers have a significant role in budgeting for the organizations. With proper budgeting, institutions attain adequate equipment and consumables that ensure the smooth running of the ward units as well as the institution as a whole. 

Managing ward’s staff is another service manager’s role (Dolan & Overend, 2018, p.63). Such management entails supporting the team to get informed, involved, and empowered. According to Dolan & Overend (2018), the first thing that should be examined when a manager has issues with the team is the working environment. With a pleasant working environment, subordinates tend to perform and vice versa. Monitoring the quality of care is imperative since it contributes to their recovery (D’Lima et al., 2017). Apart from budgeting and supervisions the staff, the service leader has a significant role in monitoring the quality of the patient’s care. In situations where the patients are receiving inadequate care, the service managers can call the staff members and rectify the things that have been going wrong. In cases where the patients are receiving quality care and the patients’ recoveries are on a high, the service manager can work on motivating the staff more and ensuring that the institution records many recoveries. 

Service leaders also work as strategic planners. A strategic plan is required in a community psychiatrist services if it plans on improving quality care (Tse & Volpp, 2018, p.12). One of the critical roles of the service manager is developing the actual plan through the help of the institution’s departmental heads. The actual plan can be developed for the whole institution, and the departmental heads can work on developing strategies for their departments. As Tse & Volpp (2018) note in their work, the service manager in a community psychiatrist services have the role of developing, proposing, and executing strategic plans, policies, and programs. The planning is done through consultation with the organization’s board. While the board of directors may reject some recommendations, they may also add other that may later benefit the organization. The teamwork allows them to brainstorm ideas and come up with a cost-benefit analysis that indicates the plans that should be prioritized (Seeber, de Vreede, Maier and Weber, 2017, p 941). Apart from developing and executing the strategic plan, the service manager should monitor whether the organization is compiling with the relevant authorizes. In case the organization lacks some of the certificates and licenses, it is their role to direct the filing of all the legal and regulatory documents. Such protects the organization against case laws. Legal issues tend to slow the organization and affect the implementation and execution of its plans. 

In any healthcare organization, motivation becomes a significant element where it motivated employees to respond to increasing challenges and demands, and vice versa. According to the study by Baljoon, Banjar & Banakhar (2018), motivating employees initiate various behaviors that work towards accomplishing the intended purpose. Motivating subordinates has worked for many years. The main types of motivation include the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. In intrinsic motivation, service managers focus on the internal power that leads employees to meet their persona and institutional aims. Extrinsic motivations, on the other hand, are eternal forces that motivate employees to work towards attaining both personal and institutional goals. For service managers, they can extrinsically motivate their employees using gifts, prizes, positions, among other incentives. With such incentives, employees tend to work hard towards attaining their objectives. One such goal would be to ensure that patients receive adequate care. 

For the service managers that lead the community psychiatrist services, motivating subordinates can also be achieved through professional development. In most cases, employees feel motivated even to work hard when they have all the skills in conducting their duties. As Price & Reichert (2017) note in their work, nurses, among other mental health staff, require professional development that can be done through a refreshers course. For the mental health experts, for instance, they can be trained on how to use the DSM-5 if they were relying on DSM-IV. They can also be trained in using ICD-10 in diagnosing mental illness. Through such professional development programs, misdiagnosis may reduce significantly. Misdiagnosis in mental health has been a great challenge that results in adverse impacts. For instance, if a depression patient is misdiagnosed to have schizophrenia, the medications that they will be given lower the neurotransmitters production. If a schizophrenia patient is misdiagnosed to have depression and put under antidepressants, the medications work towards worsening the psychotic symptoms (Zhang and Mao, 2015). In working against misdiagnosis, the service manager can schedule professional development either annually or even monthly. The service manager’s role in leading the community psychiatrist service would be to come up with a professional development plan and ensuring that it is enacted. Such a move not only benefits the staff, but it also reduces the errors in diagnosis and treatment.

 In conclusion, it is evident that service managers have a critical role in community psychiatrist services. In such platforms, they act as staff managers, case managers, recruitment officers, mentors, record managers, strategic planners, and supervisors, among other roles. Nowadays, mental health is contributing to the public health burden. In such a case, the service managers in various community psychiatric services have a critical role in ensuring that patients get quality care. For the provision of quality care, the community psychiatrist services need to motivate the employees that can be done either through extrinsic or even the intrinsic methods. Another primary strategy that can be used in motivating the employees is through continuous education. With many diagnostic tools and equipment, community psychiatrist services staff require new skills on how to use them. Such skills can be developed through continuous education. Supervision of the community psychiatrist services wards is another role that the service leaders in such institutions have. In this case, they supervise the staff to ensure that all the activities are carried out appropriately. When the service leaders effectively play their responsibilities in a community psychiatrist services, there is a higher likelihood of provision of quality care that results in many recoveries. 

Bibliography

Baljoon, A., Banjar, E., and  Banakhar, A. 2018. Nurses’ Work Motivation and the Factors Affecting It: A Scoping Review. Int J Nurs Clin Pract 3(5), pp. 277. Doi: https://doi.org/10.15344/2394-4978/2018/277