David Carter PART 1 Schizophrenia
David Carter PART 1 Schizophrenia
This vSim made feel a lot more relaxed. I felt
... [Show More] very comfortable responding therapeutically to the client. For the presentation power point, I was assigned schizophrenia. So, I am knowledgeable about what schizophrenia is. Mr. Carter was not portraying any erratic behavior, but he was anxious. Out of all the questions I asked him, I though he would have gotten agitated but that wasn’t the case. It appeared that once I explained to him why I was there, he changed his body language to a more receptive position. I was really surprised that he was able to tell me the last five presidents.
It seemed as though I chose the right answers when it came to responding therapeutically to my client. At times he got a little agitated but continued to answer my questions. What I learned during this vSim is if I encounter a client pacing back and forth angerly in a common area, I should ask everyone who is there to politely leave. I also learned that weight gain is common a side effect associated with atypical antipsychotics. As a nurse, I would educate my patient to watch their diet and increase exercise to offset the potential of weight gain. Since paranoia is associated with schizophrenia, I learned that it is very important to keep frequent client contact to decrease the amount of paranoia. It appears hallucinations occur frequent in patients with schizophrenia. So, as a future nurse I would offer my patient access to their as needed medication to help with the audible and visual hallucinations.
I would like to share that it is very important for a patient to adhere to their medication regimen because relapse can occur. Also, family support is very important. I though schizophrenia was caused due to a decrease in serotonin, but it turns out that it is a complex disorder with no specific cause. For a client who is taking Clozapine, as the nurse I will ensure that a complete blood count is drawn to look at the levels of the white blood cell count. The patient’s blood is routinely drawn to make sure the patient is not experiencing agranulocytosis, which is a potentially life-threatening event. [Show Less]