Importance of Mental Health Assessment in Nursing Practice

This essay discusses the vital components of a comprehensive mental health assessment in nursing practice. It emphasizes the significance of the therapeutic relationship in building a holistic understanding of the patient and identifying factors exacerbating their condition. The essay explores the essential role of the Mental State Examination (MSE) in determining a person's psychological state, and how risk assessment is linked to the MSE to evaluate the level and intent of risk. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of physical assessment in preventing diagnostic overshadowing within clinical settings, ensuring accurate and timely treatment. The essay concludes that these elements are crucial for providing holistic and effective patient care in mental health nursing.

ESSAY

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
Therapeutic relation.....................................................................................................................4
Mental state examination.............................................................................................................5
Risk assessment...........................................................................................................................6
Physical assessment.....................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
Books and Journals......................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Nursing is the profession within healthcare sector which is aimed on the taking care of
individuals that are recovering and requires quality of life. Practice of nursing is considered to be
many different special areas and levels of perception authority (Mirhaghi, & et.al., (2017)). This
job profile requires knowledge and associated skills to provide proper care to the patients.
Mental health assessment is important in providing a clinical picture of these patients and
develops an understanding about the problem.
MAIN BODY
Therapeutic relation
This relationship with the patients produces an effective and information sharing approach which
assists the nurse in understanding the preferences of the patient with regard to the environment. It
makes the patients feel safe and build the feeling of trust in the care that is provided to them. The
main purpose behind therapeutic relation with patients is to help them have a therapy that brings
changes to their life in better terms. It is important to build such relation as it provides a setting
where the individual receives treatment and shares thoughts and emotions which are related to
their problem. Such relationship is very important in nursing metal health patients as it improves
the participative practice done by the nursing staff and will decrease the gap which is formed
between the scientifically collected evidence and their application in practical life. A good
therapeutic relationship with the patient benefits in improving the patient satisfaction and
attaining professional fulfilment (Coelho, & et.al., (2021)). It saves time and increases the
compliance along with the prescribed medication. It is an interpersonal relationship that is
professed by patients to having proper care and supportive non judgemental behaviour.
It helps in building a safe environment in stressful period of time for the patients. These
relations are for a brief moment or can be continued to extend for extended period of time.
Therapeutic relationship creates an emotional bond consisting trust, care and respect as the main
agreements on the goals of therapy. It is crucial in developing a patient centric approach for their
care that helps them to cope up with the problems and adjust in the unchangeable conditions.
Therapeutic relation ins nurse patient relation forms a foundation for trust and respect and
nurtures faith and hope. It makes one sensitive to self and others as well. It assist in treating the
patient with gratification about the physical, emotional and other needs of the patient from the

knowledge and skills they posses. Therapeutic relationship with patients are close and trusting.
Investment in early interactions help in patient to open up about their inner thoughts and this
bong is strengthens after each session (van der Krogt, Coombs, & Rook, (2020)). The goal of this
therapy is identify the needs and emotions from the patient where they will feel welcomed. By
this, they will commit to manage their emotions.
Mental state examination
It is an integral part to develop skills and understanding the signs and symptoms of
mental illness along with their associated risk factors. Mental state examination is helps in
assessing the mental health of the patients and is important to understand the social, cultural, and
education background. Mental state examination is helpful in presenting the medical history o
the patient along with their laboratory and radiological studies. Information gained from friends
and families is also valuable in confirming the missing data. Mental state examination is about
observing the present state of the patient which is a vital part of the working diagnosis (Assadi,
(2020).). It allows patients to have an assessment of the risk associated with their illness that can
harm them. Conducting mental state examination is important to write down the patients in order
and avoid any misinterpretation. It provides a snapshot of the emotional state of the patients,
their thoughts and behaviour at the time of observation. It is important to identify and determine
the severity of the risk present in a patient and being familiar with the psychiatry placements for
having a structured clinical examinations.
The purpose of mental health examination is to evaluate a range of mental functions and
behaviours at some specific point of time. It provides information which is essential for the
diagnosis and assessing the course of disorder with response to the treatment (Mirzaei, & et.al.,
(2017)). This tool is useful in assisting physicians to differentiate different systemic conditions
and disorders which are related to dementia or even schizophrenia. It forms a key part in having
an initial assessment within a psychiatric healthcare setting. The data is collected based on the
observations of the patients behaviour and on the clinical point of view. It is essential in
collecting the evidence of the symptoms and signs of the mental disorders including the areas of
risk to one self. It develops an insight to thoughts of patient and making an informed decision
about the treatment strategy. Mental state examination is considered to be a part of
comprehensive physical examination where the information is recorded in free- form text. This

information is used in to understand the psychiatric history and generate diagnosis making a
psychiatric formulation and treatment plan.
Risk assessment
Mental state examination is helpful in assessing the risks that can harm the patient and
avoids any information being misinterpreted. A good risk assessment is combination of
psychological and social factors as part of comprehensive review in order to capture the needs
and identifying the risks which are associated with the patient. Mental state examination is build
on the observational data that is gathered by nurses and is used to evaluate the changes made
over time while facilitating the diagnosis (Kourgiantakis, & et.al., (2020)). A risk assessment in
mental health is management of risks of an individual going through some mental illness that can
cause harm to one another. Therefore, it is extremely important step in psychiatric practice. It
provides safe and effective care while making decisions regarding the transition between
services. Risk cannot eliminate suddenly but has to be assessed and managed.
Risk assessment identifies the main factors that indicate the pattern in which risk is
increasing. Risks can be affected by the changes in the circumstances within certain time frame.
Risk assessment includes short term perspective and having a review on frequent basis. Risk
assessment leads to formulating a plan which describes current situation and ways to mitigate the
risks present in the future. A positive risk taking approach will benefit the interventions and
autonomy. In mental health services, risk assessment is focused on obtaining predictions where
the patients are characterized between high, medium and low risks (Anderson, & Jenson,
(2019)). It helps in estimating the chances of risk to occur. Risk assessments of patients is a
general practice that can be challenging in the clinical practice. In includes managing the needs
of the patients.
Physical assessment
Physical exam is the process which helps the clinicians to determine the next step for the
process of diagnostic and helps in preventing any unnecessary testing for the diagnosing the
illness. Moreover, it also helps in building trust through touch with the patients. Physical
assessment helps in determining how the patient is doing in terms of their health status and
regardless feeling any symptoms (La Guardia, & et.al., (2019)). It is necessary in determining the
areas of health which requires attention so that there are no issues in the future. It is necessary for

providing safety in patient care. Physical assessment builds a foundation for planning any
nursing interventions and providing a framework in terms of subsequent findings while
hospitalizing a patient in comparing and evaluating. Diagnostics overshadowing increases the
risk to the patient in creating further health related complications that can delay the accurate
treatment.
This can be avoided by physical assessment that determines the nature of treatment and
nursing care which is required to the patient. It safeguards the patients and their families in
identifying the early signs especially in the case of diseases which are communicable. It is
crucial in accessing the baseline for physical and mental data on the patient. It also confirms the
data which is gathered in the nursing history and helps the nurse to establish the diagnoses and
planning to provide care for the patients (George, DeCristofaro & Murphy, (2020). Physical
assessment is required to check for the possible diseases such that it can be treated at early stage.
It is essential in identifying the issues which will become medical concerns for the future. It is
complete assessment of the patient including observation, percussions and other techniques
which will gather the information. This helps in making a clinical judgement that is used to
decide on the extent of assessment which is required. Thus, avoiding any overshadowing within
the clinical setting.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded that therapeutic relation is important for the providing comprehensive care. It
helps in providing a holistic approach towards the patient’s care and identifying different areas
that helps in analysing the mental health condition. Assessment of mental health is crucial in
determining the psychological state of patient and is also linked with the risk assessment. Risk
assessment help in identifying the level of risk an individual is exhibiting regarding their health.
Moreover, physical assessment is beneficial in preventing an individual from overshadowing
from some clinical setting.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Anderson, K. K., & Jenson, C. E. (2019). Violence risk–assessment screening tools for acute
care mental health settings: Literature review. Archives of psychiatric nursing, 33(1),
112-119.
Assadi, G. (2020). The Mental State Examination. British Journal of Nursing, 29(22), 1328-
1332.
Coelho, & et.al., (2021). Development and psychometric properties of the Therapeutic
Relationship Assessment Scale–Nurse. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health
Nursing.
George, T. P., DeCristofaro, C., & Murphy, P. F. (2020). Self-efficacy and concerns of nursing
students regarding clinical experiences. Nurse education today, 90, 104401.
Kourgiantakis, & et.al., (2020). Teaching note—enhancing social work education in mental
health, addictions, and suicide risk assessment. Journal of Social Work
Education, 56(3), 587-594.
La Guardia, & et.al., (2019). Community mental health provider responses to a competency-
based training in suicide risk assessment and prevention. Community mental health
journal, 55(2), 257-266.
Mirhaghi, & et.al., (2017). Therapeutic relationship: Is it still heart of nursing?. Nursing
Reports, 7(1), 4-9.
Mirzaei, & et.al., (2017). The prevalence of cognitive impairment in elderly nursing home
residents. Journal of Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences, 23(6), 896-901.
van der Krogt, S. R., Coombs, M., & Rook, H. (2020). Humour: A purposeful and therapeutic
tool in surgical nursing practice. Nursing Praxis in Aotearoa New Zealand, 36(2).