Case study
16-year-old white pregnant female living in an inner-city neighborhood.
Risk Assessment. Identify conditions from the history and physical examination or circumstances that threaten the well- being of the patient and/or fetus. These include gestational diabetes, preterm labor, preeclampsia/eclampsia, pregnant patient malnutrition and vitamin deficiency, and use of potentially teratogenetic agents such as lithium valproic acid or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. Develop at least five targeted questions you would ask your selected patient to assess his or her health risks and begin building a health history.
Assignment
Post a summary of the interview and a description of the communication techniques you would use with your assigned patient. Explain why you would use these techniques. Identify the risk assessment instrument you selected and justify why it would be applicable to the selected patient. Provide at least five targeted questions you would ask the patient.
Advanced Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliations
Advanced Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning
Part of the nurse’s role entails building a close relationship with patients in order to understand their health risks. For example, when handling a 16-year-old white pregnant female living in an inner-city neighborhood, it is important that the nurse conducts a risk assessment to understand the specific conditions that threaten her well-being and that of the fetus. An interview with the patient has generated meaningful insights that can guide decision-making when selecting the best health promotion strategies for her (Taheri et al., 2021). From the interview, it is evident that the client stays in the inner-city with her single mother who is a widow. The client further indicates that she does not consume alcohol/tobacco. Her mother too does not consume alcohol/tobacco. The client admits that she feels worried, depressed, and sad as a result of her pregnancy. She also states that she is getting prenatal care from a nearby clinic. However, she admits that she does not have any financial savings and depends on her mother to meet delivery costs.
The communication technique and type of risk assessment instrument used determines the type of information that the nurse will gather from a patient. The type of communication technique that would be used with the patient is the targeted communication technique. The nurse would use this technique to address issues that specifically concern the life of the pregnant teen and the fetus she is carrying (Araujo-Chaveron et al., 2022). The risk assessment instrument used with the pregnant teen is the Behavioral Health Risks Screening Tool for Pregnant Women and Women of Childbearing Age (Southern Oregon Perinatal Task Force, n.d.). The reason for selecting this risk assessment instrument for the client is that it guides the nurse to establish whether she is exposed to drugs, violence, and issues that might affect her psychological well-being. The following targeted questions would help to gather crucial information from the patient;
- Where do you stay and who are you staying with?
- Have you consumed alcohol/tobacco in the past three months?
- Does your mother consume alcohol/tobacco?
- Are you facing any psychological difficulties as a result of your pregnancy?
- Are you getting prenatal care and how do you plan to meet delivery costs?
References
Araujo-Chaveron, L., Doncarli, A., Crenn-Hebert, C., Demiguel, V., Boudet-Berquier, J., Barry, Y., Gomes Do Espirito Santo, M. E., Guajardo-Villar, A., Menguy, C., Tabaï, A., Wyndels, K., Benachi, A., & Regnault, N. (2022). Pregnant women’s unmet need to communicate with a health professional during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic lockdown in France: The Covimater cross-sectional study. PloS One, 17(4), e0266996. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0266996
Southern Oregon Perinatal Task Force. (n.d.). Behavioral Health Risks Screening Tool. https://www.oregonpainguidance.org/app/content/uploads/2016/05/Behavioral-Health-Risks-Screening-Tool.pdf
Taheri, S., Tavousi, M., Momenimovahed, Z., Direkvand-Moghadam, A., Rezaei, N., Sharifi, N., & Taghizadeh, Z. (2021). Explaining the concept of maternal health information verification and assessment during pregnancy: a qualitative study. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 21(1), 252. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-021-03715-7