Psychosocial Integrity

Answer

Psychosocial Integrity

Introduction

Nurses see patients and their families throughout their illness journey and are therefore in a unique position to monitor the patient’s psychosocial state and look out for any signs of distress. Vulnerable populations such as patients suffering from Cancer are typically predisposed to psychosocial distress (Luigi, Spiegel & Riba, 2017). Many health providers including nurses are cognizant of the adverse impact of psychosocial problems on health and have come up with interventions to deal with these problems. Nurses must first identify patients with psychosocial needs that might affect their health and healthcare then work with the patients to develop strategies for supporting patients in disease management as well as follow up on care offered (Luigi, Spiegel & Riba, 2017).When assessing the psychosocial integrity of a patient, it is important that the nursing professional be aware of possible barriers to effective care and circumvent these barriers by understanding the patient’s spirituality, sexuality, hope and optimism. Effective psychological care has a lot to do with the ability of the nurse to communicate with the patient as well as other healthcare professionals (Luigi, Spiegel & Riba, 2017). The objective, therefore, is to create and maintain a relationship that encourages the patient to seek both emotional and informational support from the nursing professional.

Psychological care is just as important to the nursing team as it is to the patient because without it patients will feel neglected and slip into distress. Nurses are able to meet the psychosocial needs of patients through both verbal and written advice. While verbal advice makes it easy for the nurse to build trust with the patient, written advice leaves little room for misinformation. Nurses’ role in psychosocial care is to support patients and build dialogue with the patients so that they are able to view the patient’s condition from the perspective of the patient (Luigi, Spiegel & Riba, 2017). The nurse may also be able to understand the patient’s relationship with others and how those relationships affect the patient’s decisions and therefore quality of care. A nurse must have good communication skills and stellar assessment skills in order to gain the trust and confidence of a patient. Since cancer patients are often hospitalized for extended lengths of time, the hospital-based nurse has an optimal chance to build effective relationships with patients and their families.

            During my practicum, I encountered a 25-year old female breast cancer patient with signs of psychological problems. The patient suffered from trauma, mood swings, anxiety disorders and relationship/sexuality problems. Due to these psychological problems, the patient was not keen on continuing treatment and I had to get the patient specialist care from a skilled therapist. The patient and the therapist worked through the psychosocial issues separately but I did my best to be professionally available for her. I also suggested family and couple therapy to the patient and she agreed. After about 3 weeks the patient had a more positive outlook about her.

            From my interactions with the patient, I could tell that some of her psychosocial problems were directly related to the social determinants of health. For instance, the patient was distressed because she and her partner were not financially stable and she knew that the cost of her treatment was taking a toll on her partner. Furthermore her parents were not educated and therefore had little knowledge of cancer. Even the information that they received from the caregivers did not seem to set them at ease. Their obvious distress only made the patient further distressed. Lack of access to quality healthcare was also a problem for this patient. She had been in and out of hospitals before but none of her previous doctors had noticed that she had cancer and she ended up being diagnosed at Stage 3.

            With reference to Cancer patients as a vulnerable population, I would be most concerned about their access to the care that they need in the event of any natural disaster. This is because Cancer patients need uninterrupted access to care and medication which may be difficult during a disaster (Gorji, Jafari, Heidari & Seifi, 2018). This population not only requires long-term treatment but also regular follow-up. I would therefore be most concerned that their continuity of care would be interrupted. Furthermore, these patients are already operating with a compromised immunity and a lot of distress and a disaster might only plunge them into further psychosocial turmoil (De Guzman & Malik, 2019).

In conclusion, patients with Cancer may not be able to access treatment or care during a disaster. Their medical records and specimens may also be lost. In such a scenario, decision making about treatment would be disrupted. Cancer treatment is mostly personalized hence the need to have all the medical records of a patient. I observed that a significant number of patients with cancer are not prepared for an emergency. To that end I provided all the clients I served with copies of their pathology reports, recent diagnostic imaging reports and a summary of their care plan. I also discussed with each client the importance of keeping this documents safe an within reach in case of an emergency.