Assessment in the Mental Health Setting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Assessment in the Mental Health Setting - Essay Example Assessment is the first stage of the nursing process and begins with the collection of information about a patient (Hinchliff et al, 2003). In a broad sense, assessment is the foundation of nursing care and is a continuous process that nurses apply in their delivery of care (Ryrie and Norman 2010). Barker (2004) also identifies assessment as an estimation of a person’s character, and as a â€Å"decision making process based upon the collection of relevant information, using a formal set of ethical criteria, that contributes to an overall estimation of a person and his circumstances†. However it has been suggested that mental health nursing profession should integrate the broad principles of recovery approach into every aspect of nursing practice including that of assessment (DH 2006). Furthermore, a number of standardised assessment tools has been developed to support nurses further in fulfilling their professional task in clinical measurement and also in providing â₠¬Å"a general outline or the presentation of the person at a particular point in time† (Barker 2004). This essay will now identify, using evidence-based practice, a formal assessment tool used in the assessment of a patient in an acute inpatient assessment ward during a recent clinical placement. Relevant references will be cited to support statements and conclusions; appendices will also be provided to give a sample of the assessment tool used during the placement. In accordance with the Nursing & Midwifery Council’s Code of Professional Conduct (2002) guidelines, certain parts of this original essay such as the patient history will be omitted to maintain confidentiality and protect anonymity. The setting is an acute inpatient ward and a mixed gender unit. It provides a safe environment for assessment, treatment and therapeutic work helping to secure the full spectrum of mental health conditions designed to promote recovery as stated by the Department Of Health (2006). In this essay, I will pay attention to the use of the assessment instrument: Becks Depression Inventory (BDI). This inventory is basically composed of a series of queries conceptualized to measure the intensity and severity of patients with a diagnosis of mental health disorders (Polgar, 2003). The long form covers 21 questions which are meant to evaluate a specific symptom manifest among people with depression. The shorter form is composed of seven questions and is meant to be carried out by primary care givers (Polgar, 2003). This assessment tool was originally meant to evaluate and monitor depression among patients in the mental health setting and is now widely used as a measure and evaluation tool for patients with potentially depressed symptoms. I am fully aware of ethical issues on consent and so I gained a valid and informed consent of the patient in accordance with the NMC provisions (2002, section 3). The patient was made aware that this work would be confidential (NMC, 200 2, section 5). To protect her identity, she will be referred to as Helen in this paper. Helen is 65 years old and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She is currently in the acute mixed gender ward for assessment and treatment. For the past several years she has been admitted on and off into the ward similarly for depressed symptoms, and sometimes for manic symptoms. Rationale in selecting one type of assessment tool Using one type of assessment tool is crucial to the delivery of nursing care. The single assessment process applied to the patient helps to ensure that â€Å"older people’s needs are accurately assessed without needless duplication across different agencies†