|
Psychiatric Nursing Services
"Cost containment" and "cost effectiveness" are the key phrases in today's struggle to offer
health care services. A heightened interest in outpatient psychiatric services, especially
psychiatric home health is gaining momentum across the country. Home psychiatric health care
can reduce or even prevent hospitalizations and safely facilitates quicker discharge from psychiatric
and medical inpatient settings. Experienced psychiatric nurses, LMSW's and psychotherapists work in
conjunction with the psychiatrist in providing medication management and compliance, techniques for
symptom management, psychotherapy and education, and prevention of situational crises.
Persons experiencing the following diagnoses are often eligible for the home care program:
- Depression
- Bipolar Disorder
- Schizophrenia
- PTSD
- ADHD
- Conduct Disorder
- Anxiety Disorders
- Eating Disorders
- Dementia
- Chemical Dependency
Services offered include but are not limited to the following:
I. Observation and/or Assessment of:
- Mental status and cranial nerve functioning
- Emotional and behavioral symptoms
- Concurrent medical conditions
- Patient's knowledge of medication routine, schedule, dosage, rationale, and side effects
- Patient's response to medication and compliance with schedule
- Side effects of psychotropic medications (EPS scales)
- Crisis events or potential crises
- Suicidal ideation, plan, intent, and/or history, and establishment of level of suicide risk
- Patient's environment, including family support systems, family dynamics, and safety status
- Socialization skills
II. Teaching and instruction to patient and/or caregiver in:
- Recognizing crises and/or emergency signs and symptoms and when to report to MD and 911
- Emergency/crisis intervention techniques
- Suicide precautions
- Medication use, side effects, rationale, schedule, management, and importance of compliance
- Processes of disease and importance in recognizing signs and symptoms of recurring illness
- Impulse-control techniques, relaxation methods, stress management, grieving process
- Problem solving techniques, decision making, coping and social skills
- Medical management of disease process
- Need for psychiatric follow-up with psychiatrists and clinical therapist
III. Performance of:
- Assessment instruments for outcomes monitoring: Young Mania Scale HAM-D BPRS...
- Suicide assessment tools
- Establishing "no harm contracts"
- Activities to determine medication compliance (pill counts...)
- EPS scales
- Depot-neuroleptic injections
- Venipuncture for lab studies
- 24 hour crisis intervention
- Supportive counseling
- Case management with psychiatrist, therapist...
- Medical procedures (wound care, gastroscopy tubes)
- Post ECT monitoring
|
| |
©2003 All Nursing Home Health Services, Inc.
|
