Medical-surgical Nursing Demystified

(Sean Pound) #1

(^452) Medical-Surgical Nursing Demystified


A Look at Mental Health


Alterations in mental health can be more difficult to diagnose because there is no
definitive laboratory test or radiological study with which to isolate the disorder.
Patients may initially seek treatment from primary care practitioners for a variety
of complaints: anxiety, insomnia, generalized aches, or other somatic complaints.
A thorough patient history should include past medical conditions, any prior
mental health conditions and their treatment course, current medications, social
history (including habits, work, exercise, and substance use), cultural background,
environmental factors, family history, and changes in libido, appetite, or sleep.
Physical examination focuses on the chief complaint from the patient’s point
of view and traces the progression of symptoms in a chronological order from
the time of onset. Mental status examination is completed focusing on the patient’s
appearance, activity and behavior, affect, mood, speech, content of thought, thought
process, cognition, judgment, and insight.

Key Terms


Affect
Cognition
Content of thought
Delusions
Impairment in judgment

Insight
Judgment
Mood
Paranoid ideation

Selective serotonin
reuptake inhibitors
Suicidal ideation
Thought process

Anxiety
Panic disorder
Depression
Bipolar disorder

Schizophrenia
Anorexia nervosa
Bulimia nervosa
Delirium

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Learning Objectives

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