Cecile Sullivan Home Raising Case Study

1. During the interview, the interviewer (Dr. Noonan) was able to control the session even when the client was challenging her. Dr. Noonan continued to repeat the question "How can I help you?" when the client avoided answering Dr. Noonan about why she was seeking services from her. The interviewer also maintained patient confidentiality when the client mentioned a previous coworker that had also seen Dr. Noonan. Dr. Noonan did not give any information to the client about this previous patient and she did not give any indication that she had been this coworker's doctor in the first place.

I believe that the intake form reviewed all necessary questions needed to determine the client’s social and medical history to develop personalized goals for the client’s individualized treatment plan. I will begin to discuss the areas that the intake form reviews in order to obtain the necessary information to develop a treatment plan for the client.

Patient Presentation: Benjamin Fowler arrived 15 minutes late for his appointment today. He was accompanied by his sister, Paula Fowler. She joined us in the interview to assist Benjamin and to answer some questions concerning Benjamin's behavior. Benjamin is a 27-year-olds African American male. He wore a t-shirt with dress pants and tennis shoes to his interview. Benjamin looked like he had not showered recently. Benjamin had issues focusing on the questions during the interview. He also was distracted by objects in the office during the interview. Benjamin also spoke in a quick manner. Benjamin was not able to tell me what day it was or where he was.

As people get old a few of them will experience changes in cognition with age related capacity rather than intellectual capacity. There are some people who get both disparities of mentally and physically impaired that will led into depression due to aging process of their body. Even though, the forgetfulness is a common among older adults, we as healthcare providers must evaluate altered mental status of the patients. “The evaluation and management of altered mental status are broad and require careful history and physical examination to eliminate life-threatening situations”(Patti & Dulebohn, 2017). Therefore, it is very important to recognize the importance of difference between normal age-related symptoms and developing new health problems that can arise in this specific population. As elders get older their memory lapses it frustrating to them leading them to be more worried about changes in their memory. Nurses have a unique capability to promote a cognitive health and determine the possibilities of potential cases of the impairment in elders. The movie “On Golden Pond” Mr. Norman was a perfect example and showed that his symptoms were interfering with his everyday live when he almost burns down the house with fire, calling Bill by his daughter’s name Chelsea and getting lost in on the lake. Even though, Mr. Norman had heart and dementia problems his wife never discouraged him to do what he liked such as

An individual’s needs and abilities change over time as a result of their condition and are different for each person. All abilities involve more than one memory and dysfunction of the brain will affect a person’s abilities. Self-awareness and identity can be lost that may affects a person’s abilities and needs. Furthermore anxiety, depression, mental health issues, loss of independence, loss of companionship, change of circumstance. Moreover Seven Stages of Alzheimer's (2006) going from no impairment to very server cognitive decline shows the fluctuation of the needs and abilities.

Patients with dementia are highly subject to psychosocial interventions. Thus, frank will tend to rely on his two children (Thomas and Jenny) and staff at the residential home for support and protection. Psychosocial model of care involves psychological therapy, which can be delivered on a one-to-one/group basis to meet important psychological needs as well as have impact on physiological level (Bartle and Frankland, 2008). These psychological therapies include Cognitive stimulation therapy (C.S.T), Reminiscence and Animal

Personal/Social History: The patient reports receiving her high school diploma and worked in the fast food industry as a cashier until her back injury and subsequently filing for disability.

The term ‘dementia’ is used to describe a syndrome associated with an ongoing decline of the brain and its abilities. This includes problems with memory loss, thinking speed, mental agility, language, understanding, and judgment. People with dementia can become apathetic or uninterested in their usual activities, and have problems controlling their emotion. They also fine social situation challenging, lose interest in socialising and aspect of their personality may change. The majority of people who are diagnosed with dementia have either Alzheimer’s disease or vascular dementia, or a combination of the two. (Source 1) As the disease progresses, the person experiencing dementia becomes more vulnerable and their needs often complex; which requires appropriate care and management (Kitwood, 1997).this leads me to the next distinctive feature of patients with dementia.

Whilst attending the day hospital she was observed, and found to be repetitive with obvious evidence of fabrication, very disorientated, with poor concentration and very poor short-term memory. The consultant asked the mental health nurses to assess Kate and tests indicated that she may be suffering from a moderate degree of dementia. Dementia is a

Certain qualities are consistently observed in the Alzheimer’s victim. These dysfunction’s, though, are not exclusive to Alzheimer’s disease. Consequently, declaring Alzheimer’s by these parameters is a matter of degree rather than an absolute. Characteristic dysfunction’s have been noted in Alzheimer’s victims, but the degree and severity of these varies from patient to patient. Thus, evaluation of the patient’s mental status must be made based on the sum, rather than a single characteristic. Memory is one of the first noticed deficiencies, beginning typically with the recent and short term memory, and progressing from there as the disease grows more severe. In addition, deterioration in language skills, attention span, praxis (performance of an action), and visuospatial skills are commonly seen. Also observed are changes in the actions and personality of the Alzheimer’s victim. These include changes in mood, motor activities, activities of daily living, socialization skills, psychotic disturbances, vegetative symptomology, and rise in anxiety levels. Again, the

Both have related that they now have to actively work to maintain their previous mental acuity. In their 20’s, both did well in college and were well respected in their

According to the provided family health history given, diabetes was common in Mrs. Johnson’s family. I observed Mrs.’s psychosocial health, environment and age health consideration. I asked Mrs. Johnson of her current medications, pain and allergies. Open ended questions were used to provide the participant a chance to further explain what the information that was conducted. The participant answered all questions thoroughly to her best of her ability. She did not know some of the answers about her grandfather on the paternal side. The participant maintained any eye contact during the health history assessment and looked comfortable. The participant communicated very well and there were no barriers and the participant made me feel comfortable during the interview and she was very engaged. The interview went very well and was very similar to what I have learned and the participant was willing to answer all

Dementia is an extremely common disease among the elderly, with 4 million Americans currently suffering from the Alzheimer’s type alone. Figures show that 3% of people between the ages of 65-74 suffer from the disease, rapidly increasing to 19% for the 75-84 age bracket, and as high as 47% for the over 85s. Therefore, it is easy to see why Dementia is such a large part of many people’s lives, whether they are suffering from the condition themselves, or have an elderly relative who requires full time care just to undertake simple day to day tasks. The disease can be extremely traumatic for the patient and their families, as the person, who may have been extremely lively and bright throughout their

Cognitive aging is worthy of study for many reasons. The more knowledge that is uncovered about cognitive aging, the closer to possibly finding ways to slow the process down, decrease the intensity of the symptoms, or maybe prevent it all together. If there are possible ways of doing so it is important to find them. The “what” and “when” of cognitive aging has made advances, but the “why”, “where”, and “how” are still to be uncovered. We further our knowledge of the “why”, “where”, or “how”, or uncover the full truth, without knowing the full truth about the “what” and “when”. Finding out more about one might lead to learning more about another. Expanding our knowledge on cognitive aging has the potential to increase someone’s quality of life. It has the potential to increase that family member’s quality of life. Cognitive aging effects more than the victim, it effects their

Attending the Mental Health Conference held on November 5, 2015, was educational and inspiring. As a Gerontology major this conference offered many points of learning about mental health issues which were of great interest. The main topic was primarily of the effects of dementia.