Mrs MC, a 53-year-old woman presents with symptoms of irritability, low mood and feeling that she cannot cope. She has been experiencing these symptoms for the past month, but has been reluctant to bother the nurse about them. She has been experiencing family problems with her husband and children for the last several months. She has asthma, but she denies that this is problematic at the moment. She has previously smoked 20 cigarettes per day and managed to stop six months ago. Now she feels so low that she has started smoking again, although she says she can’t really afford to.

Mrs MC accepts that she hasn’t been getting out of the house much recently when her family have asked her to go out with them, but adds that she is less active during the winter months anyway; she often prefers to stay in and watch television. Her husband has commented that she is drinking more alcohol than normal.

A friend had recommended that she takes St John’s wort for her mood and she has been for the last few weeks. She says that she hasn’t noticed any significant change, but feels more anxious about her life and wants to know what can be done to help.

Please provide at least 2 recommendations to assist with this patient’s treatment?

2- As a Registered Nurse it is “assumed” that we are competent to perform and evaluate a patient’s mental health. Consider your experience and confidence in performing a complete mental health assessment on a patient. Review the information in Chapter 6 and your assessment recommendations for the Week 5 discussion and answer the following questions.

1. How do you describe your ability to perform a detailed mental health exam?
2. Do you use a specific mental health tool in your practice or one from the textbook?
3. How can you improve your mental health assessment based upon our discussion post and the assigned reading