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Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing

What Should the Nurse Do?

Psychiatric-Mental Health NursingWhat Should the Nurse Do?

What Should the Nurse Do?

1 .
An experienced psychiatric RN is caring for a 60-year-old male client without a home who just arrived on a hospital behavioral health unit. The nurse has asked the client to describe in his own words his reason for seeking care. The client has shared that he is often bullied on the streets due to his unkempt appearance. The nurse notes that in addition to body odor, the client smells of alcohol and urine. The client relates that he wasn’t always homeless; he used to have a good job, a house, and was married. He lost his job due to a layoff, and then everything else seemed to fall apart. His wife left him after the bank took the house when he could no longer make the payments. He did not have any close friends or family who he could stay with long-term. He found that he quickly wore out his welcome of sleeping on their couches. He tells the nurse he began drinking alcohol to cope with his losses. He cannot give the nurse an exact number of drinks that he takes per day.
What additional aspects of the psychosocial assessment should the nurse explore?
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