Author Question: A nurse's neighbor says, My sister has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder but will not take her ... (Read 87 times)

tfester · **on:** Jul 19, 2018

A nurse's neighbor says, My sister has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder but will not take her medication. I have tried to help her for over 20 years, but it seems like everything I do fails. Do you have any suggestions?

Select the nurse's best response.

a. The National Alliance on Mental Illness offers a family education series that you might find helpful.
b. Since your sister is noncompliant, perhaps it's time for her to be changed to injectable medication.
c. You have done all you can. Now it's time to put yourself first and move on with your life.
d. You cannot help her. Would it be better for you to discontinue your relationship?

Question 2

A patient diagnosed with a serious mental illness died suddenly at age 52. The patient lived in the community for 5 years without relapse and held supported employment the past 6 months. The distressed family asks, How could this happen?

Which response by the nurse accurately reflects research and addresses the family's question?

a. A certain number of people die young from undetected diseases, and it's just one of those sad things that sometimes happen.
b. Mentally ill people tend to die much younger than others, perhaps because they do not take as good care of their health, smoke more, or are overweight.
c. We will have to wait for the autopsy to know what happened. There were some medical problems, but we were not expecting death.
d. We are all surprised. The patient had been doing so well and saw the nurse every other week.

Brenm · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 19, 2018

Answer to Question 1

ANS: A
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) offers a family education series that assists with the stress caregivers and other family members often experience. The nurse should not give advice about injectable medication or encourage the family member to give up on the patient.

Answer to Question 2

ANS: B
The family is in distress. Because they do not understand his death, they are less able to accept it and seek specific information to help them understand what happened. Persons with serious mental illness die an average of 25 years prematurely. Contributing factors include failing to provide for their own health needs (e.g. forgetting to take medicine), inability to access or pay for care, higher rates of smoking, poor diet, criminal victimization, and stigma. The most accurate answer indicates that seriously mentally ill people are at much higher risk of premature death for a variety of reasons. Staff would not have been surprised that the patient died prematurely, and they would not attribute his death to random, undetected medical problems. Although the cause of death will not be reliably established until the autopsy, this response fails to address the family's need for information.