Sharon Cole_Scenario Overview Bipolar Disorder Health Assessment

Instructor’s Overview: Sharon Cole —

Bipolar Disorder

Scenario Overview

Patient:  Sharon Cole Diagnosis: Bipolar disorder

Brief Summary:

Sharon Cole is a 31-year-old female with bipolar I disorder who was admitted to the hospital last night for surgical repair of a right ankle fracture sustained in a fall during a manic episode. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder 6 years ago. Prior to this incident, she had a manic episode 2 years ago as well as two earlier depressive episodes, one requiring hospitalization. She has recently stopped taking her medication.

She went to surgery first thing this morning. At the start of the scenario, it is early afternoon, and she is on the orthopedic unit, where she has been for a couple of hours after coming back from the postoperative unit. She is manic, expressing grandiose ideas that she is needed in Washington, DC to solve some political issues. Her husband, Allan Cole, has been with her prior to surgery, but is not present now.

The students are expected to set limits on behavior with a patient experiencing an acute manic episode. Students are also expected to provide a therapeutic environment and identify the need for medication to manage the manic episode.

Learning Objectives

General:

□ Identify the psychopathology of mental health disorders

□ Assess contributory factors affecting care, including but not limited to psychosocial, cultural, spiritual, environmental, and socioeconomic factors

□ Establish a therapeutic milieu that engages psychiatric patients and their families

□ Identify the indications, therapeutic effects, side effects, and teaching implications of drugs used to treat the symptoms of mental health disorders

□ Provide a safe environment for both patients and staff

□ Recognize communication patterns and use therapeutic communication techniques that illustrate caring for the patient’s overall well-being

□ Apply the nursing process to prioritize the plan of care

□ Communicate appropriately with the therapeutic team in a timely, organized, collaborative, and patient-specific manner

Scenario-Specific:

□ Identify the need for medication to manage acute agitation

□ Demonstrate therapeutic communication, including setting boundaries and limits around manic behaviors

□ Modify the environment to help reduce stimuli to manage acute manic behavior

□ Identify medication management for bipolar disorder