Author Question: A patient diagnosed with schizophrenia lives in the community. On a home visit, the community ... (Read 63 times)

tuffie · **on:** Jul 19, 2018

A patient diagnosed with schizophrenia lives in the community. On a home visit, the community psychiatric nurse case manager learns that the patient:

wants to attend an activity group at the mental health outreach center.
is worried about being able to pay for the therapy.
does not know how to get from home to the outreach center.
has an appointment to have blood work at the same time an activity group meets.
wants to attend services at a church that is a half-mile from the patient's home.
Which tasks are part of the role of a community mental health nurse? Select all that apply.

a. Rearranging conflicting care appointments
b. Negotiating the cost of therapy for the patient
c. Arranging transportation to the outreach center
d. Accompanying the patient to church services weekly
e. Monitoring to ensure the patient's basic needs are met

Question 2

A person in the community asks, People with mental illnesses went to state hospitals in earlier times. Why has that changed? Select the nurse's accurate responses. Select all that apply.

a. Science has made significant improvements in drugs for mental illness, so now many persons may live in their communities.
b. There's now a better selection of less restrictive treatment options available in communities to care for people with mental illness.
c. National rates of mental illness have declined significantly. There actually is not a need for state institutions anymore.
d. Most psychiatric institutions were closed because of serious violations of patients' rights and unsafe conditions.
e. Federal legislation and payment for treatment of mental illness has shifted the focus to community rather than institutional settings.

nekcihc358 · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 19, 2018

Answer to Question 1

ANS: A, C, E
The correct answers reflect the coordinating role of the community psychiatric nurse case manager. Negotiating the cost of therapy and accompanying the patient to church services are interventions the nurse would not be expected to undertake. The patient can walk to the church services; the nurse can provide encouragement.

Answer to Question 2

ANS: A, B, E
The community is a less restrictive alternative than hospitals for treatment of persons with mental illness. Funding for treatment of mental illness remains largely inadequate but now focuses on community rather than institutional care. Antipsychotic medications improve more symptoms of mental illness; hence, management of psychiatric disorders has improved. Rates of mental illness have increased, not decreased. Hospitals were closed because funding shifted to the community. Conditions in institutions have improved.