407➤ CLINICAL EXAMPLE
Susan Marks, 25 years of age, is diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.
She has been attending college sporadically but has only 15 completed credits
and no real career goal. She is angry because her parents have told her she must
get a job to support herself. Last week she met a man in the park and fell in love
with him on the first date. She has been calling him repeatedly, but he will not
return her calls. Declaring that her parents have deserted her and her boyfriend
doesn’t love her anymore, she slashes her forearms with a sharp knife. She then
calls 911, stating, “I’m about to die! Please help me!” She is taken by ambulance
to the emergency room and is admitted to the inpatient psychiatry unit.
- Identify two priority nursing diagnoses that would be appropriate for
Susan on her admission to the unit. - Write an expected outcome for each of the identified nursing diagnoses.
- List three nursing interventions for each of the identified nursing
diagnoses. - What community resources or referrals would be beneficial for Susan?