Nursing Assignment: Analyzing Risks, Mental Health, and Ethical Issues

This nursing assignment analyzes a case study involving a patient experiencing insomnia, anxiety, and potential suicidal ideation. The assignment identifies an urgent risk area, focusing on the patient's feelings of incompetence, loneliness, and potential suicidal risk, supported by relevant literature. It proposes immediate nursing interventions, emphasizing supportive care, active listening, and family involvement. The assignment also identifies mental health concerns, specifically anxiety symptoms, and recommends interventions such as a calm environment and limiting access to drugs. Furthermore, the assignment discusses ethical, legal, and professional issues that nurses might face, such as family interference and patient information confidentiality. The student references relevant literature to support the analysis and recommendations.

Nursing Assignment

Table of Contents
1.a) Using the case study provided, identify an urgent risk area. Ensure your answer details why
you have identified this risk area including specific information about the client and current
literature...........................................................................................................................................2
1.b) Identify one nursing / midwifery intervention you would immediately undertake with your
client to address the risk area noted in question 1a and include a rationale for the intervention.
Ensure the intervention includes who and when you would actually carry out the intervention....2
2.a) Using the case study provided, identify a mental health concern. Ensure your answer details
why this is an area of concern. Include specific information about the client and current
literature...........................................................................................................................................3
2b) Identify one nursing / midwifery intervention you would undertake with your client to
address the mental health concern noted in question 2a and include a rationale for the
intervention. Ensure the interventions include how who and when you would actually carry out
the intervention. Your rationale should state how and why you would carry out the particular
intervention......................................................................................................................................3
References........................................................................................................................................5
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1.a) Using the case study provided, identify an urgent risk area. Ensure your answer details
why you have identified this risk area including specific information about the client and
current literature.
Ans: The patient has been feeling insomnia, anxiety and sleeplessness for the past six weeks. He
has lost 5 kilos and his appetite. The patient projects a low image about himself.He feels that he
is incompetent both in professional as well as personal life (Batterham, Christensen & Calear,
2013). The patient seems to feel that he has let down his wife and his daughter.mr. Chung spends
most of his days feeling low about himself. When the patient feels lonely and segregated from
the rest of the family, the patient’s decision making capacity might be compromised. Suicide is
basically ending one’s life at his own will out of depression. So, it can be inferred that he is a
suicidal risk (Batterham, Christensen & Calear, 2013).
1.b) Identify one nursing / midwifery intervention you would immediately undertake with
your client to address the risk area noted in question 1a and include a rationale for the
intervention. Ensure the intervention includes who and when you would actually carry out
the intervention.
Ans: The nurse should be supportive of the defenses of the patient in the beginning so that the
patient can fight his thoughts. The nurse should listen to the patient and be kind and gentle.
The nurse will have to handle the patient Mr. Chung and the family as well in order to facilitate
the complete recovery of the patient. The coordination and the support of the patient’s family are
very essential in treating these conditions. The nurse should make sure that the patient is
spending enough time with his wife and his daughter so that he feels at peace and secure. The
patient should always be amongst their family and friends.
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2.a) Using the case study provided, identify a mental health concern. Ensure your answer
details why this is an area of concern. Include specific information about the client and
current literature.
Ans: Mr. Chung is suffering from several classic symptoms of anxiety such as having a pounding
effect on the heart, insomnia, being out of breath and excessive sweating. The patient has also
lost 5 kilos in six weeks. He has also lost his normal appetite (Wright, Lebell & Carleton, 2016).
The anxiety attacks are random attacks, which make the patient feel trembling of hands and feet,
nausea, feeling short of breath and so on. Recently, the patient has been having a lot of work
stress and feeling distant with his family. So, these reasons contributed to his anxiety (Bishop,
2014).
2b) Identify one nursing / midwifery intervention you would undertake with your client to
address the mental health concern noted in question 2a and include a rationale for the
intervention. Ensure the interventions include how who and when you would actually carry
out the intervention. Your rationale should state how and why you would carry out the
particular intervention.
Ans: The various interventions, which the nurse has to take are:
 The patient should not be left alone by the nurse and especially during the time when his
anxiety levels are high. The nurse should remain calm although the patient is hyperactive.
 Whenever the patient becomes hyperactive to any situation, the nurse should shift him to
a quieter environment (Hamoen, Redlich & de Weerd, 2014).
Rationale: The nurse should make the patient feel secure. The nurse should make the patient
aware of the situations when his overacting and should always try to keep the patient calm. Mr.
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Chung has a risk of a drug overdose so the nurse should limit the access of the patient to any
kind of drugs that would decrease the suicidal thoughts (Lucchetti et al., 2013).
3) Using current literature, identify and discuss (2) two legal, ethical or professional issues
a nurse /midwife may need to consider when working with the client in the case study.
Ans: The two ethical, legal or professional issues, which the nurse might face, are as follows:
The family might interfere with the treatment processes of the nurse and might try to manipulate
and direct her according to their convenience. This is a common professional issue that the
nurses face while treating their patients (M & N, 2015).
The relatives and the visitors of the client might be interested in the condition of the patient and
request for information from the nurse. It is forbidden for the nurses to share any information
about the patient’s health with the relatives without the consent of the family. Therefore, this can
become a legal issue against a nurse treating anxiety patients ("Nurses applauded for work with
anxiety disorder patients", 2014).
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References
Batterham, P., Christensen, H., & Calear, A. (2013). ANXIETY SYMPTOMS AS
PRECURSORS OF MAJOR DEPRESSION AND SUICIDAL IDEATION. Depression
And Anxiety, n/a-n/a. doi: 10.1002/da.22066
Batterham, P., Christensen, H., & Calear, A. (2013). ANXIETY SYMPTOMS AS
PRECURSORS OF MAJOR DEPRESSION AND SUICIDAL IDEATION. Depression
And Anxiety, n/a-n/a. doi: 10.1002/da.22066
Bishop, B. (2014). Anxiety, Symptoms and Containment: A Tale of Two Situations. British
Journal Of Psychotherapy, 30(1), 106-116. doi: 10.1111/bjp.12069
Hamoen, A., Redlich, E., & de Weerd, A. (2014). EFFECTIVENESS OF COGNITIVE
BEHAVIORAL THERAPY FOR INSOMNIA: INFLUENCE OF SLIGHT-TO-
MODERATE DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOM SEVERITY AND WORRYING. Depression
And Anxiety, 31(8), 662-668. doi: 10.1002/da.22258
Lucchetti, G., Peres, M., Lucchetti, A., Mercante, J., Guendler, V., & Zukerman, E. (2013).
Generalized anxiety disorder, subthreshold anxiety and anxiety symptoms in primary
headache. Psychiatry And Clinical Neurosciences, 67(1), 41-49. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-
1819.2012.02405.x
M, M., & N, C. (2015). Evaluation of the Efficacy of Combined Therapy with Escitalopram and
Sublingual Alprazolam in Major Depression Associated with Insomnia. Journal Of
Depression And Anxiety, s3. doi: 10.4172/2167-1044.s3-008
Nurses applauded for work with anxiety disorder patients. (2014). Nursing Standard, 28(48), 0-
0. doi: 10.7748/ns.28.48.0.2848990
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Wright, K., Lebell, M., & Carleton, R. (2016). Intolerance of uncertainty, anxiety sensitivity,
health anxiety, and anxiety disorder symptoms in youth. Journal Of Anxiety
Disorders, 41, 35-42. doi: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2016.04.011
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