Risk Management Strategies

Risk management involves managing the risk of engaging in professional practice that might be considered unethical. Forensic psychology professionals may be accused of unethical behavior or even have an ethical complaint filed against them. There are procedures in place to handle such matters, but risk management strategies may help lower the chances of an ethical breach occurring in the first place. The goal is to use risk management strategies to prevent ethical breaches rather than reacting to ethical violations after the fact. Approaching ethics from a risk management perspective is one way to protect the rights of both the patient and the practitioner in forensic settings.

To prepare for this Discussion:

Review Chapter 1 in the course text Risk Management: Clinical, Ethical, and Legal Guidelines for Successful Practice, taking note of the risk management strategies outlined in the text.

Think about the benefits of the ethical risk management approach in forensic settings.

Select three risk management strategies to use for this Discussion.

Consider how the strategies you chose might reduce risk of breaching ethics.

Think about the advantages of using risk management strategies.

With these thoughts in mind:

A brief description of three specific risk management strategies you selected. Then explain how they might reduce risk. Finally, explain the advantages of using risk management strategies in practicing ethical behavior.

Note: Identify the three specific risk management strategies you selected in the first line of your post. You will be asked to respond to a colleague who selected a risk management strategies that you did not.

Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the Learning Resources.

Application: A Model for Decision Making

In this week's Discussion, you considered ethical risk management as an approach to prevent ethical problems before they occur. When attempts at prevention via ethical risk management fail, a model of decision making is a viable tool to solve ethical dilemmas that may surface. Experienced forensic psychology professionals may feel confident that they have a good sense of what constitutes ethical practice and judgment. Nevertheless, it is not unusual for situations to arise where the " right" course of action is unclear. Indeed, some situations may require a decision between two undesirable courses of action. This sort of ethical dilemma generally has no obvious path one should take. One way to act efficaciously and appropriately when such circumstances occur is to use an ethical decision-making model. An ethical decision-making model provides a systematic structure with which to arrive at a sound course of action.

To prepare for this assignment:

• Review the case study and identify at least one ethical issue in the case.
• Review the assigned pages in Chapter 1 of the course text Ethical Practice in Forensic Psychology: A Systematic Model for Decision Making. Consider whether an ethical decision-making model is a valid method for making ethical decisions and avoiding ethical misconduct.
• Think about possible solutions and consequences of using an ethical decision making model to address an ethical dilemma.
• Consider which solution is the best course of action to solve the ethical dilemma and reflect on the value of using an ethical decision making model.

The assignment (2-3 pages):

• Describe the ethical issue that you identified from the case study.
• Apply the steps in the ethical decision making model from the Learning Resources this week.
• Describe two possible solutions to the problem presented.
• Explain at least one consequence associated with each solution.
• Briefly describe the one solution you would use from the two you previously identified and explain why you think this is the best course action for this particular situation.
• Share your insights or draw conclusions on the value of using an ethical decision making model to address ethical issues.

Support your Application Assignment with specific references to all resources used in its preparation. You are asked to provide a reference list only for those resources not included in the Learning Resources for this course.

Case Study

You are a staff psychologist working in a medium security prison. You have just returned back to work after six weeks of paternity/maternity leave and you meet with your supervisor, the chief psychologist of the facility. She informs you she is going on two weeks of leave the following day and you will be left in charge. She briefs you about many things; the most important concerning an inmate she had placed on suicide watch three weeks earlier. He cut his wrist and had to be taken to a hospital outside of the prison over-night due to the seriousness of the cut. She informs you that to meet policy requirements the inmate will need to be seen by a psychologist each day he continues to be on suicide watch. She tells you the inmate is manipulative and is threatening to "kill" himself if he is transferred to a segregated housing unit (the hole). She reports the inmate has a long history of manipulative suicidal gestures to obtain what he desires. 

The following week you go to see the inmate for the first time and when you ask him if you can do anything for him he states, "Give me a razor so I can kill myself." He is in a cell with nothing but a tear-proof blanket and smock. He then refuses to talk to you any more that day. As you continue to see the inmate on a daily basis that week he starts to talk to you. He has many complaints including not being allowed to take a shower. Policy requires that an inmate should have a shower at least every three days, but the chief psychologist wrote orders that stated he should not receive a shower while on suicide watch. The inmate knows the policy and is stating he will sue the chief psychologist. You also find out that week from many staff members you know and trust that the inmate angered a staff member by not saying hello to her. In response, the staff member had the inmate sent to segregated housing (the hole) for "insubordination." The inmate became angry, refused to go to segregated housing, and subsequently cut his wrist leading to his hospitalization and subsequent placement on suicide watch. By being direct and honest with the inmate you earn his trust over a week and-a-half. Mid-way through the second week you are present when a mid-level manager (non-psychology staff) admits to the inmate that staff were wrong for locking up the inmate in the first place. However, the manager tells the inmate he is going to have to "do time in segregation" for being disruptive when initial attempts were made to put him in segregation. He tells the inmate if he agrees to go to segregation, the inmate will only stay for 10 days and then be released to a different housing unit away from the staff member he refused to greet several weeks earlier. The inmate's response is he will not spend "10 seconds" in segregated housing because he did nothing to deserve punishment. He also states repeatedly to you that if he is taken to segregated housing "you all will be carrying me out of there in a box. I don't give a . . . I'll be dead!!!" You strongly believe he will engage in serious self-harm if placed in segregated housing. However, the inmate states he is more than willing to return to regular housing away from the staff member he refused to greet several weeks earlier. 

Later that day the warden of the facility discusses this inmate with you in an open staff meeting. He not so subtly says he feels the inmate should not be on suicide watch. You know from past history the warden is concerned about paying staff members 24 hours a day to watch this inmate. You feel he does not want to continue to pay over-time, but he doesn't actually say so. He continues to put pressure on you to take the inmate off of suicide watch. What do you do? How do you respond to the warden?