Analysis of assessment data
Areas for focused assessment
This assessment focused on such areas as health beliefs or practices of the patient, past medical history of the client, family history, and emotional state of this person. It is possible to identify several areas of strengths and weaknesses, namely willingness to maintain a healthy lifestyle and attention to one’s health. Yet, one should not disregard some negative aspects such as anxiety and the risk of a cardiac chronic condition.
Client’s strengths
One can single out several strengths related to the client’s overall physical and mental health. First of all, this patient undergoes annual medical examinations, and it is unlikely that he will have undiagnosed or untreated diseases. Secondly, it should be noted that this person has a positive outlook on life and he is supported by family and siblings. Such support and worldview are particularly important for people undergoing cancer treatment and recovering from this illness (D’Amico & Barbarito 2010). Thirdly, one should speak about the lifestyle. The client tries to keep himself in shape. In particular, he jogs 3 to 5 miles per week and goes to the gym.
Areas of concern
At this point, there are several areas of concern. First, his father and mother were diagnosed with hypotension. The thing is that the patient is an African-American, and this population is at a higher risk for this disease (Hampton, Gullotta, & Crowel 2010, p. 289). Secondly, the assessment indicated potential respiratory problems that the patient may have. Yet, the critical area of concern is the patient’s anxiety. He feels scared and tells him he needs the encouragement of his family. Emotional vulnerability is probably more problem that has to be addressed.
Health teaching topics
This patient needs to know more about the recovery after the laparoscopic prostatectomy and the aftereffects of such surgery, for instance, sexual dysfunction (D’Amico, D., & Barbarito 2010). Furthermore, he should be told about the diet that he should keep the and lifestyle which is most suitable for patients who have undergone prostate cancer treatment.
Nursing Care Plan
Diagnosis
Overall, the patient primarily requires reassurance from his immediate family or other relatives. During the interview, he said that he felt “scared”. Although he is emotionally ready or willing to improve his well-being, he does not feel confident in the outcome of the treatment or his own strength.
Plan
In this case, the goal of a nursing professional is to make sure that the patient feels confident in his ability to overcome the diseases (D’Amico, D., & Barbarito 2010). This goal is particularly important because the patients who are treated for prostate cancer can develop depression (Mulhall 2009, p. 28). One should take into account that prostate cancer patients do not always tell about their emotional problems to others. This is why they can have depressive disorders (Mulhall 2009, p. 28).
Intervention
There are several interventions that are quite suitable for such circumstances. First of all, the nurses should tell the patient about the successful outcomes of prostate cancer treatment. The main rationale for this intervention is that it will strengthen the person’s confidence in the successful outcome of the treatment. Secondly, the nurse should encourage the patient’s relatives to support them more actively. The nurse should explain how post-surgery complications can be managed because people find it difficult to adjust to them.
Evaluation
The results of these actions can be evaluated in different ways. For example, the patient can take self-confidence surveys, and the results of such a survey can tell whether the interventions were effective or not. Provided that the client has a positive attitude toward his future health and life, in general, one can say that the nurse’s objective was attained.
References
D’Amico, D., & Barbarito, C. (2010). Health & physical assessment in nursing (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Hampton, R., Gullotta, T. & Crowel, R. (2010). Handbook of African American Health. New York: Guilford Press.
Mulhall, J. (2009). Sexual Function in the Prostate Cancer Patient. NY: Springer.