Nursing Interventions For Patients With Psychological Issues

Within this essay I aim to evaluate the role of the nurse in leading health promotion, with reference to The World Health Organisation’s “Health for All by the Year 2000” movement (WHO 1986a). I will also explore more recent strategies and initiatives such as The Quality Strategy (2010a) and The 2020 Vision (2011a) which underpin the significance of health promotion in present-day nursing practice. I have chosen to look specifically at the role of the nurse in promoting good physical health within a psychiatric setting. I will explore some of the key health issues which are common amongst patients within a mental health setting, such as weight gain, poor diet and exercise and discuss the importance of nurse lead health promotion within the psychiatric setting. I will identify the barriers to health promotion and discuss ways in which these may be overcome to ensure effective health promotion.

Patient undergoing mental illness treatment needs to be cared for by nurses as their core duties are to provide standard care to patient and to monitor them under close observation making sure they are dignified in their treatment.

Mental illness is a rising issue in our country. The National Alliance on Mental Illness reports that 1 out of every 17 people in this country suffer from a mental illness (Pearson 2014). With this large of a number, we should expect that our law enforcement personnel understand how to deal with these individuals, correct? Wrong. As reported by Pearson (2014), half of the all those killed during a police encounter last year were dealing with some form of a mental illness. According to Reuland (2009), there have been two national policies put in place. However, these policies, or procedures, are how to identify someone who is mentally ill and what services to call. It does not specify the procedure of a mentally ill individual who is becoming violent. In my opinion, the current procedures are inadequate

Monica is 32 year old African American female seeking mental health treatment and therapeutic supportive counseling. Monica is divorced and currently lives with her two teenage sons in Virginia. Monica struggles with being a single parent, maintaining stability, and has been homeless a few times. Monica is of low socioeconomic status in which she is currently unemployed and receives disability for income. Monica has a history of oral cancer in which she was diagnosed in her early 20s. Due to the severity of the cancer, Monica had to have her upper right jaw bone removed along with several teeth. She now wears a prosthetic which causes her to have a speech impediment. After years of chemotherapy and countless surgeries, Monica’s cancer is currently in remission.

He must assist her with all personal care. The home is very neat and tidy. They live in an apartment. Mr. Bell reports he does all of the housework and cooking along with her personal care. She has a walker in the home and is able to walk short distances. Once outside of the home she uses an Amigo from a store or her wheelchair. Per Mr. Bell, her wheelchair and walker are both over 7 years old. I confirmed that they did not have any needs for additional DME other than a new wheelchair and possibly a walker. He did ask about an Amigo for her also. I confirmed that there are no new surgeries pending or treatment options other than he follows up with Dr. Robertson. Dr. Robertson provided all of her medications. I did ask Mr. Bell is they have a contingent person to take over her care if he were to become ill or incapacitated. He said their daughter would take care of her. I asked about their travel to visit their children. He said that once

Ms. Alicia Castellanos is a 78 year old separated Hispanic female from Salvador; She entered Broadway House Women Shelter on 10/25/2016, as a transfer from Franklin Women’s Shelter. She has been residing in the Shelter System since 8/8/2016. Ms. Castellano was appropriately dressed and groomed. She is about 160 lbs. and 5’3” tall with salt & pepper short straight hair. She wears glasses for reading and distance. She is of olive skinned complexion with no visible scars or scars. She is soft spoken, easy going with a pleasant demeanor. Ms. Castellano is naturalized US Citizen and she is currently receiving SSI in the amount of $753. She has an active Medicaid and Medicare.

First, I would directly ask about both sides of the bipolar spectrum – mania and depression. During my interaction with the patient, I primarily focused on the depressive side of mania, as that is the side of the bipolar disorder that the patient was currently exhibiting. The patient did not exhibit any signs of mania, and had not exhibited mania since being in the facility, so I did not focus my attention on this topic. To gain a comprehensive assessment on the patient, it would have been beneficially to at least bring up mania signs and symptoms with the patient. As stated in class, not all bipolar patients will admit to the mania symptoms, as patients tend to enjoy the increased energy and productivity levels. If I would have discussed this information with the patient, he may have noted that these symptoms directly correlate to his diagnosis. Second, after completing my assessment, I would work toward acquiring a support system for the patient, outside of the hospital. Through the conversation, I did acquire the knowledge that the patient does not have family or children nearby, but I did not gather information on support systems beyond the family. Various support systems I could look at for this patient include: Veterans, sexual abuse victims, gay men, and elders without family. Outside of the VA hospital, a veteran’s success relates to the amount of

Imagine you have just received report for your patient Ms. Smith, who is 80 years old, and admitted for UTI and Altered mental status. You enter the room to find Ms. Smith crying. When you ask her what is wrong, she covers her face, and states “I

She told me that she and the patient’s father had been trying to convince him to take the meds, as they both believed it would be best for him, however, he was not yet convinced. She told me he had recently started doing his own research online, which seemed to be improving his outlook on therapy. I encouraged their efforts and expressed my thankfulness in his self-directed research, as I recognized this as a sign that he had entered the contemplation stage of the transtheoretical model (Hall & Edgecombe, 2014, p. 297), which showed progress. During this conversation, I noticed that the mother was showing concern towards her son, and appeared distressed by the situation. I asked her about her experience as a psychiatric nurse, and she told me that despite her decades of experience, it has been very difficult for her to watch her son struggle, as it is completely different when it is “so close to home”. While validating her challenges and offering supportive comments, I encouraged her to see her nursing knowledge and expertise as a strength to her son’s recovery, as well as her own well-being, through this difficult time. I reassured her that her grief and feelings of helplessness are

Patient A was assigned several nurses during her three days stay at the hospital. Everything went well until the second night at the hospital room. A new nurse was

The patient expressed about feeling that she is self-sabatoge her recovery for no apparent reason and currently thinking about going into an inpatient treatment- more so, a treatment that is spiritual. The patient shared that lately she's been feeling down and haven't been to going to church for the past two weeks. In addition, the patient shared about having homocidial thoughts with regards to her daughter's DCF case as she expressed frustration with the custody battle. This writer advises the patient about this writer's role as a mandated reporter and based on the patient comment of having homocidal thoughts, she recanted her statement and says," So, you are telling me that I cannot vent and express how I feel.....I am going to keep my mouth

Flowers’ room, we were quickly met with her daughter who impatiently wanted to discuss her mother’s discharge plan. Before we could even discuss our assessment and what the plan was for Mrs. Flowers, her daughter informed us that no one would be cutting on her mother, that she was makes the final decision, and that we should clean her mother’s foot so they could go home. That was it. To me, I thought it was clear that Mrs. Flowers either couldn’t make her own decisions or was simply agreeing with her daughter because that was all she knew. Thinking about it now, I realize how angry that first interaction with Mrs. Flowers had made me. I was angry at Mrs. Flowers’ daughter for treating her mother with what I thought was obvious neglect. I was also upset with the attending physician for not being more direct with Mrs. Flowers’ daughter. I understand now arguing with the daughter would have only made this situation

The unit is a short-stay psychiatric inpatient unit located at Virginia Baptist Hospital in Lynchburg, Virginia. Kimberly describes her role and an important part of her job description as admitting patients, completing all of the units’ discharges including writing all prescriptions that are needed, consulting on all needs for the emergency department and as well as Lynchburg General Hospital, a local neighboring hospital, and also spending the majority of her time communicating with patients’ families, nursing homes, and other essential members of the patients’ treatment team. Each morning a meeting is held with the interdisciplinary team as well as Kimberly herself and the Medical Director. At this meeting each patients’ care is discussed in detail with every member of the treatment team present. Everyone brings something to the table, as Kimberly describes and Dr. Betz, both her collaborating physician and Medical Director, always has the best interest of all patients at heart, she adds in support of her medical co-worker. With discussion centered around every patient on the unit at the daily treatment team meeting, Dr. Betz is aware of Kimberly’s patients and his ideas such as what medications might work, potential side effects of medications, and the behaviors the patients are experiencing are all conferred upon.

Background information: Sally Sue is a white female in her mid-nineties residing in an apt with her boyfriend. Pt has an ongoing struggles with hallucinations for many years. Pt was admitted to SBBH involuntarily. APS is involved because of the phone calls that she made to the police officers. Pt has received therapeutic treatments in the past. Pt does have legal matters. Recently, pt went to court to get her days extended for longer treatment. Her barrier to treatment is she can hardly hear. Her major source of income is her social security. Her strengths is verbal and motivated for treatment. Her weaknesses

During the home health observation day, there were several opportunities to observe a variety of patients with varying levels of functioning ability, different illnesses, and different needs and levels of interaction with the nurse. The first patient seen was a seventy-three year old Caucasian female with an ulcer on her right heel. Several weeks prior, she had scratched her left leg and she also had several small wounds on her left leg. The orders were to clean and redress the ulcer. She has a history of end stage renal disease, pneumonia, weakness, diabetes, dialysis, and right hip fracture. Upon entering the home, the patient was found to be sitting in a wheel chair in the living room watching television with her husband close by her side. She greeted the nurse with a smile and began to update her on her current condition. Her heel was “hurting” and she rated her pain an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10. She also had some “swelling” that she could not “get to go away; because, she could not get up and walk. They need to fix my foot so that I can get up and get around.” She told the nurse that she had been to see the doctor “yesterday” and the doctor had given her a written order that she wanted her to see. The order was written for an evaluation for a soft pressure shoe fitting. The nurse read the order to