Mental Health - Client Assessment
The aim of this assignment will be to select a client cared for on a placement and look at the assessment tools used to provide holistic care for this client. It will examine the various assessments used on this client and discuss the holistic needs of the client. My placement area was with a Community Mental Health Team and so the assessment tool used was the Community Mental Health Team Assessment and Progress Record.
Carpenito-Moyet (2005, p.231) defined an assessment as “the deliberate and systematic collection of data to determine a client's current and past health status and to evaluate the client's present and past coping patterns”. Harrison et al (2005) explain that the aims of assessment is to obtain information needed to establish a diagnosis in order to make clinical decisions, to recognise the causes, signs and symptoms of the disorder and to build a trusting therapeutic relationship with the client. The nurse’s ability to assess the client appropriately and accurately is key to building a clear picture of the client’s needs, preferences and abilities. The nurse will carry out this assessment in conjunction with the client, therefore empowering the client to be involved in their own care (Dougherty and Lister, 2008). As well as involving the client the nurse may also involve the client’s family in the assessment. The nurse will first gain consent from the client. This extra source of information will give the nurse a more comprehensive picture. This is known as collateral information and can be very beneficial when dealing with a client that is very unwell or withdrawn. A family member can be a very important source of information (Rothschild, 2009). For nurses to be successful in building their assessment of the patient they must develop a trusting relationship with their patient, allowing them to work together and set goals and responsibilities to meet client’s needs. The nurse-client therapeutic relationship is a very important element of any
Carpenito-Moyet (2005, p.231) defined an assessment as “the deliberate and systematic collection of data to determine a client's current and past health status and to evaluate the client's present and past coping patterns”. Harrison et al (2005) explain that the aims of assessment is to obtain information needed to establish a diagnosis in order to make clinical decisions, to recognise the causes, signs and symptoms of the disorder and to build a trusting therapeutic relationship with the client. The nurse’s ability to assess the client appropriately and accurately is key to building a clear picture of the client’s needs, preferences and abilities. The nurse will carry out this assessment in conjunction with the client, therefore empowering the client to be involved in their own care (Dougherty and Lister, 2008). As well as involving the client the nurse may also involve the client’s family in the assessment. The nurse will first gain consent from the client. This extra source of information will give the nurse a more comprehensive picture. This is known as collateral information and can be very beneficial when dealing with a client that is very unwell or withdrawn. A family member can be a very important source of information (Rothschild, 2009). For nurses to be successful in building their assessment of the patient they must develop a trusting relationship with their patient, allowing them to work together and set goals and responsibilities to meet client’s needs. The nurse-client therapeutic relationship is a very important element of any