This concise, quick reference handbook allows students and nurses to quickly and easily find information on how to intervene in a specific psychosocial or mental-health problem commonly seen in clinical practice. With the great number of students and nurses working in community-based settings, this handbook will help prepare them to deal with situations when hospital support systems are not nearby. It focuses on common psychosocial and psychiatric problems faced by students and nurses caring for patients of all ages in various settings. WHAT'S NEW

• Content on care in various settings (home care, nursing homes, residential care, outpatient, psychiatric home care, hospital) incorporated into appropriate sections of the chapters
• Increased emphasis on the psychosocial responses throughout the life span with a focus on children, adolescents, mother/child, and the elderly
• New material includes chapters on culture and end-of-life care; also alternative/complementary medicine information integrated within appropriate chapters

KEY FEATURES

• Focuses on psychosocial problems faced by the generalist nurse caring for patients in a med/surg unit, in a long-term care facility, in the home, or in any other specialty setting
• Evaluates psychosocial responses to the stresses of illness, illness of a family member, hospitalization, or alterations in mental health, and provides clinically relevant interventions for dealing with them
• Each disorder or condition opens with an overview of the problem, including a review of the current theories of causation, and proceeds to explain assessment, collaborative and nursing management, patient and family education information, charting and discharge planning guidelines, and nursing outcomes
• Helps determine the relationship of psychological manifestations to the underlying disease process
• Lists behavioral patterns that suggest a need to refer the patient to a psychiatrist, psychologist, or clinical nurse specialist
• Suggested learning activities help the novice nurse become more proficient in dealing with psychosocial problems
• Disease chapters include etiology, pharmacologic interventions, cultural concerns, and information on the use of alternative and complementary medicine
• Provides essential documentation guidelines

Gorman, Linda M., RN, MN, CS; Raines, Marcia L., PhD, RN, MN; Sultan, Donna F., RN, MS

Tags: psychosocial nursing for general patient care