The following programs take you through the most common scenarios a mental health nurse may encounter when dealing with patients who suffer from one of these five main mental health illnesses. To point out to students where the common error and small mistakes of a nursing student may be made, each program demonstrates how a novice nurse handles a situation. The second vignette is each series shows us how a more experienced and proficient nurse takes care of a client using advanced skills and knowledge. Includes: Depressed/Suicidal Client; Verbally & Physically Aggressive Client/Delusions; Mental Status Assessment/Client Diagnosed with Borderline Personality; Client with Dementia & Agitation/Anxiety; The Client Experiencing Mania.
Grade levels: Adult
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Depressed / Suicidal Client
Most of us can relate to being “down” or “blue” at various points in our lives, but occasionally mental health nurses are called upon to care for persons with severe depression. In these two vignettes you’ll see how to avoid some of the common mistakes made by novice nurses, and how an expert nurse is able to help a depressed and suicidal client.
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Lives Interrupted – Disc III
Contains: Huntington’s Disease; Death of a Spouse; War; Stroke; Cancer.
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Verbally and Physically Aggressive Client / Delusions
Unfortunately, mental health nurses may have to care for persons who, for a variety of reasons, may be physically threatening or aggressive. With a variety of special intervention skills and knowledge the expert mental health nurse demonstrates how to care safely and effectively for these patients. The situation example also demonstrates how a nurse can build trust and rapport with a client experiencing bizarre thoughts or beliefs – known as delusion.
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Prison
Robert “Rosie” Rowbotham was paroled from prison in 1997, where he had spent more than 20 years for trafficking millions of dollars worth of grass and hashish. He once told a judge that he could not be rehabilitated, but a heart attack convinced him that he did not want to die in prison. He worked as a journalist for various prison papers and cable channels, and upon release was hired to work for CBC Radio as a specialist in prison issues. Today he acknowledges he was the author of his own misfortune, but he also knows that he is making the kind of social difference he always yearned for.
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Mental Status Assessment
One of the things that mental health nurses must do on a continuous basis with their clients is monitoring their mental status. In this pair of vignettes, you will see a novice and expert nurse conducting a mental status assessment with a client who is difficult to engage.
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Sexual Abuse
Kathryn Wetheral lost her childhood to sexual abuse when her grandfather abused her for seven long years. She became anorexic and suicidal due to the pain of keeping her violent and conflicted feelings inside, but found relief when she began to speak about what had happened to her. She finally took her abuser to court and won, but also ended up fighting for her life as the anorexia swept over her during the legal process. Art therapy was a critical part of her healing, but being heard in the courts was the vindication that gave her back her life.
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Client With Dementia and Agitation / Anxiety
It can be very challenging for mental health nurses to care for persons with dementias like Alzheimer’s disease. In this pair of vignettes, a novice tries to comfort and re-orient an older man with dementia in a nursing home. Then we witness how a more experienced nurse is able to help the older man feel much less anxious about his current situation. A second set of vignettes demonstrates some of the skills and techniques needed when caring for a person with severe anxiety.
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Accident
Dominique show is a globally renowned world-beat musician, whose career was abruptly cut short by a car accident that resulted in a devastating spinal cord injury. It meant he could no longer walk, dance, or do so many of the things he had once taken for granted. Today however, he believes it was God calling him to another life. The harmonious result was an album of gospel music that blends African musical tradition with his new-found faith. He continues to believe that he will walk again, and the support of his wife has helped him find a revitalized vision for the future.