Nursing Case Study

[Name of the Institute]

Nursing Case Study

Introduction

This assignment is based on the nursing diagnosis of a patient who is experiencing the problem of Depression and Anxiety from several years. Patricia is a patient suffering from depression issues; she was diagnosed at the age of 16 years old. The symptom which she was suffering in her late teens was mostly depression of talking to herself always and sweating a lot. When patient is suspected of major depression signs she is generally asked to perform certain psychological and physical tests. All these activities were performed to dig out the real problems that resulted in such symptoms.

Diagnosis of Major Depression

The proper diagnosis of major depression starts with the counseling sessions in which heath care expert and doctors asked such questions that are aimed to identify the real symptoms and causes that impacted Patricia. Then I asked the patient to perform following tests. Patient has to meet the criteria of symptom to be diagnosed as a major depression patient.

Physical Examination: Physical examination is taking to check the weight and height, assessing important biological signs such as blood pressure, heart beat rate and temperature of the body. Physical examination assess the overall biological performance of the body and it includes the examination of important organs of the body like lungs, abdomen etc.

Biochemical Laboratory Test: Biochemical tests are aimed to understand and assess the chemical functioning of body. For example I may ask patient to perform certain blood tests like Complete Blood Count (CBC). Biochemical tests also analyze the proper functioning of different hormones and glands. Doctors may ask patient to take a test of thyroid to assess the functioning of it (Burton et.al, 2011).

Psychological examination: Psychological evaluation is mostly consisting of counseling session to check the symptoms of depression. These sessions are conducted to find out feelings, thoughts and different behavior patterns. Doctors try to assess the causes of depression by asking patient to define the symptoms and recurrence and prevalence of such feeling throughout the life. In psychological evaluation doctor discuss about the thoughts of self-harm and suicide.

The Major Problems/Issues

The above diagnosis on Patricia helped me to reveal the following symptoms, such as:

Continuous loss of energy and activeness and fatigue.

Feelings of guilt and worthlessness almost each day.

Indecisiveness and lack of concentration.

Excessive sleeping or insomnia almost each day.

Recurring feeling of death and suicide and self harm.

Loss of weight or sudden gain ...