HLTH 1037 Mental Health: A Detailed Case Study on OSCA Assessment

This case study presents an OSCA (Observation, Signs, Communication, and Affect) assessment of Mick, a 65-year-old patient with multiple health issues, including mental health problems, dementia, hypertension, and diabetes. The assessment covers Mick's appearance, behavior, communication, affect, mood, perception, cognition, insight, judgment, rapport, and risk issues. Mick exhibits signs of Delirium, confusion, agitation, and memory problems. The conversation between healthcare professionals and Mick highlights his difficulty in adhering to medication schedules and his distrust of healthcare settings. The assessment identifies the need for better healthcare support and interventions to improve Mick's quality of life, including addressing his confusion, managing his medications, and providing a safer environment. This document is contributed by a student and available on Desklib for educational purposes.

HLTH 1037 – Mental Health OSCA Assessment 2
Mental State Examination
Appearance: Mick is a patient suffering from various illnesses such as mental health issues,
dementia, hypertension, diabetes, Delirium, and many more. He is a 65-year-old man living
alone in his home. He seems physically weak and not getting a better quality of life due to his
lifestyle. He also looks that he is not getting a better or healthy diet.
Behavior: The behavior of Mick is quite unwell, as he has agitations such as verbal, physical
aggression, emotional distress, and so on. He also suffers from delusions. He has a confusing
personality type as he has Alzheimer's illness that is generally a widespread cause of dementia.
It is pretty standard among older people aged 65 and above. In this, Mick has Delirium, which is
a sudden alteration in how Mick's brain is working. It may cause alterations in the sleep-wake
cycles and unusual behaviors. It is the only reason for the confusion which that Mick is facing.
He was a little confused about everything, especially his health condition. Mick is also unable to
get things quickly and behaves like not interacting with others or socially.
Conversation/Communication/Speech: The communication given in the video presents the
conversation between Vicki (Mental Health Nurse Practitioner), Alina (Medical Officer), with
Mick, a patient. The medical health practitioner communicates with Mick and knows that he is
suffering from Delirium.
There is a conversation with the healthcare professionals and the client Mick. In this, healthcare
professionals are trying to evaluate Mick's health condition and present to know about the present health
scenario. They also consider her current need for healthcare, which can help get better and effective
healthcare support to improve the quality of life and health. In this, it has been identified that Mick is using
the Anti-psychotic medication, which he needs to take in a regulated manner. Still, he takes it casually and is
also confused about forgetting. Mick is not getting confirmation about his health condition and regular
lifestyle. He also doesn't like to meet people and thinks healthcare premises cannot deliver better care and
support, which seems disturbing for him. He claimed that no one listens to him. Mick also provides the
information about taking medication within some time gap and gets confused. Vicki asks about Mick's health
condition and body temperature, enabling better and practical health information about the current health.
When Mick could not demonstrate the fever, Vicki asked to check his hand to check the elevated body
temperature. Mick hesitates to get in touch during touching his hand, which shows that he is not comfortable
getting touched by anybody. In this, she also asks about other things that were regular intervals. They also
identify that Mick is feeling with getting confusion. Here, Vicki has also wondered if Mick is feeling any pain,
which can help ensure other health-related issues are considered during the Mick health investigation. Mick
was very confusing about every activity and his health-related matters. Here, Mick was confused about
taking his medication and getting services through the hospital. Here, he was also asking about why he
came to him from the healthcare professional, which shows that he was confused about their presence. Mick
repeatedly asked about the existence of healthcare professionals and the reason to meet him. Vicki has
influenced Mick to get better treatment within the hospital through better communication methods. Mick
admitted that he likes to consume coffee too much and doesn't like tea. Vicki also asked Mick to show his
tongue, which was observed drily. Here, Mick feels about receiving support and care regarding his current
health issues. Vicki also influences Mick by asking about tests like getting blood pressure and blood tests to
ensure any further health issues. Through conversation with Mick, Vicki provides that Mick needs some
healthcare and support because there is no one to look after him, and this situation can create risk for Mick's
life. There is also a conversation about taking an ambulance for better medical treatment within the hospital,
which can help get better health and better improvement. In this, Mick feels headaches and sometimes feels
unusual things. He is facing too much confusion related to age and other feelings. Vicki calls the hospital to
send an ambulance to Mick's location to pick him up, providing all the related health information. She also
shares Mick's medical history, including hypertension and other physical health needs.
Affect: The condition of Mick generally affects his state more negatively.
Mood: Mick has a confused personality as he has Delirium, a significant or critical disturbance in
mental abilities, which can specifically result in muddled thinking and decreased awareness of
the surrounding environment.
Perception: The perception here included in the case of Mick is that he is well and having good
health. But, in Delirium, psychosis is a symptom of various well-being conditions. It can
specifically disrupt the thought process and perceptions of Mick. The perceptions can generally
make it more difficult for Mick to determine the situation with reality.
Cognition (Including thoughts, memory, and orientation): In the case of Mick, dementia is
generally a progressive cognitive impairment that can negatively affect his memory, language,
judgment as well as the capability to perform his everyday tasks.

Insight: As per Mick's case, the insights generally involve confusing personality, rapid mood
alterations, or hallucinations. In this, hypoactive Delirium is also involved.
Judgment: The review is done based on mental status assessment. Some neurological and
physical examinations should be done to examine the promising signs of the well-being issues or
the underlying illness. The medical practitioners can do the physical observations to know about
Mick's situation.
Rapport: As per the case of Mick, some preventive interventions can be effectively used, such as
more frequent reorientations, the management of pain, decreasing the sensory impairments,
and many others.
Risk Issues: In this, the most associated risks with the patients having Delirium were dementia,
older age group, the co-morbid illness, the acute medical disease, infections, the elevated risks
of medication use, reduced daily activities, sensory impairments, and many more.