Mental Health Essay: Nursing Interventions, PTSD, and Razzaq's Care

This essay focuses on Razzaq, a patient suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and discusses the crucial role of nurses and healthcare professionals in his recovery. It explores the present symptoms of Razzaq, emphasizing the need for counseling and patient-centered care for b...Read More

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MENTAL HEALTHRunning head:
Mental Health
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

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This essay demonstrates the assistance that should be given to Razzaq and his family
members by the registered Nurse and other healthcare professionals so that he recovers soon. It
also discusses three mental health assessments that are required in order to assess Razzaq. The
essay demonstrates the medical, psychosocial and nursing care interventions that are required to
improve the well-being of Razzaq (Muskett, 2014).It explains the ethical and legal principles that
need to be considered when delivering patient centred care.It also focuses on the cultural needs
and explains the culturally evidence based care for Razzaq.
Present symptoms of Razzaq and the role of nurses and other health care professionals
Razzaq is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder since he was held in a detention
centre for two years. He gets scared very soon when he hears any sound as it reminds him of the
noises from war. He is irritated and shouts on his wife and hits her after getting angry. He also
yells at his kids on petty issues. Nurses and other health care professionals can play an important
role in providing care to Razzaq (Moorhead et al., 2013). They can provide counselling to him
and his family members. It is important for them to work as a team by using proper interpersonal
skills and provide patient centred care to the patient. They should guide and assist Razzaq to
remain calm which will help him to lower down his anger at small issue. It is important for them
to remain patient while dealing with him and his family members since he does not have a
normal mental state (Happell & Gaskin, 2013).A carer should be appointed for Razzaq so that he
provides proper support and care services to him and his family members. It is important for the
nurses, healthcare professionals and the carers to perform their duties effectively so that Razzaq
recovers from his health issues (Hockenberry & Wilson, 2014).
Three mental health assessments required to assess Razzaq

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A mental health assessment gives the concerned physician a complete picture of Razzaq’s
emotional state. Mental assessments will enable the medical practitioners to analyse his cognitive
functioning and higher mental faculties related to thinking, reasoning and remembering. Some of
the assessments will require a written examination where Razzaq might have to answer some
questions in writing. This will help the physicians to assess his mood and behavior and how well
he can express himself. The mental assessments will also involve questions related to his
association with the people surrounding him, which includes his family members and friends.
The assessments will be generally carried out by a psychiatrist or social worker and the results
will be kept confidential. 3 such assessments that can be conducted are: face-to-face interviews,
brief trauma questionnaire and aftermath battle scale screening (Hoge et al., 2014). Face-to-face
interviews are considered as an optimal evaluation for PTSD patients. Unstructured interview
will be used to elicit information about his symptoms. A semi-structured diagnostic interview
will also be conducted that will employ a screening tool such as the SCID, CAPS, PTSD
Symptom Scale-Interview Version (PSS-I) or Structured Interview for PTSD (SIP). These
instruments will the mental status of the patient in a clinical setting (Bovin et al., 2016). The
CAPS interview can be conducted to determine if Razzaq meets the diagnostic DSM-IV criteria
for PTSD. The intensity and frequency of his symptoms can be assessed. The trauma
questionnaires will measure the degree of trauma he has experienced or has been exposed to. 10
self report questions will be asked to derive information on the events he has faced. The
exposure to a particular event will be given a positive score if he replies yes to the questions
being asked on his life threat or incidents of severe injury. The screening of battle aftermath will
measure his exposure to cobat consequences and will make a close observation of the way he
handles human remains or interacts with prisoners or detainees of any war (Schaller, 2012). It

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will also make a record of his interaction with homeless refugees and people belonging to
devastated communities. A 6 point Likert scale will be used to measure the observations where 1
would represent never and 6 would represent most likely or daily.
Ethical and legal principles
There are several ethical and legal principles that should be taken into account while
delivering patient centred care to Razzaq. There are six ethical principles that should be followed
by the nursing staff while providing care to him such as autonomy (respect) towards the patient,
beneficence( providing benefit to the patient), Non- maleficience (avoiding harmful deeds),
Justice( no discrimination in providing care to the patient), Veracity( truth) and fidelity( being
faithful)* Butcher et al.,2013). These principles would play an important role in providing
quality and patient centred care to Razzaq and taking ethical decisions. These principles can be
referred from American Nurses Association code of ethics. This code demonstrates the ethical
standards that are required by the nurses and other health care professionals to perform their
roles and responsibilities diligently (Norman & Ryrie, 2013).
The nursing staff should follow legal principles such as laws related to the nursing
practice and maintain professional standards of nursing practice. Nurses should be properly
educated and trained to handle different types of patients such as aggressive, depressed or have
experienced any trauma in the past. They should not be negligent in providing safety or use of
any malpractice while dealing with Razzaq as it may lead to a cancellation of the licence of the
nurse (Robson et al., 2013).
Cultural needs

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Nursing staff should respect the cultural and the religious background of Razzaq and not
discriminate him on the basis of his caste or religion. They should understand his religious
beliefs and practices related to faith such as praying to god (Wynaden et al., 2014).Since, Razzaq
belongs to a muslim family he should be allowed to pray any number of times according to his
wishes. They should also understand his spiritual requirements such as if he has any issues
related to faith, hope or fear (Corrigan, Druss & Perlick, 2014).He should be provided individual
attention when issues such as privacy and dignity are concerned. For instance, if he wishes to be
addressed by a nursing staff of the same gender in order to provide nursing care. He should be
provided food according to his requirements and it should be documented properly in his diet
chart so that he gets a quality patient experience (Townsend, 2014).
Hence, it can be concluded that Razzaq should be provided counselling to him and his
family members by the nursing staff and healthcare professionals. It is important for them to
work as a team by using proper interpersonal skills and provide patient centred care to the
patient. Razzaq should be taken along with his wife for mental health assessment so that she can
explain his behavioural symptoms in a better manner.The three methods of mental assessment
that can be done for Razzaq are by assessing his physical health, emotional health and mental
health of the patient by the doctor. Various medical, psychosocial and nursing care interventions
can be taken to improve his health condition from post traumatic stress disorder. There are
several ethical and legal principles that should be taken into account while delivering patient
centred care to Razzaq. The nursing staff should follow legal principles such as laws related to
the nursing practice and maintain professional standards of nursing practice to provide patient
centred care to Razzaq.

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References
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