The aims and objectives of this assignment are to identify a nursing assessment observed by myself whilst on my medical placement.

Essay by carolan74University, Bachelor'sA-, March 2006

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The assessment that I will be focusing on is the first phase of the nursing process in the form of the initial assessment interview. The patient involved in the assessment is a 28 year old male who was admitted to a medical ward after an over dose. Within a few days it was established that the patient had mental health problems so he was referred to the community psychiatric nurse by his consultant and social worker, in order to continue his care in the community, after his discharge from the medical ward. I was introduced to the client, and his permission was given for me to use this assessment for the purpose of my study. The client in this assignment will be referred to as 'Fred'. This is a pseudonym, in order to protect his real identity and for the purpose of confidentiality, this is also a requirement of the Nursing and Midwifery Code of Professional Practice (2002).

A patient assessment according to Basford and Slevin (1995) is a carefully thought out approach to gathering information and analysis of the data' in simple terms, i.e. building a picture of the patient. This is especially so in this assessment as building a picture of the patient is essential in order to determine care.

The purpose of this assessment interview was to primarily determine Freds' needs and subsequent suitability for a place at the community day centre, as well as establishing whether the community psychiatric team could actually meet Fred's' needs.

There are a great deal of factors to be given consideration when assessing a client; I will be primarily concentrating on interpersonal communication, and the assessment environment. The client is the most valuable source of information and crucial factors can be gleaned from the assessment. The type of assessment used...