SCENARIO
You are admitting a 27-year-old woman to your unit for work-up of weight loss. While conducting an admission interview, you learn that she has recently lost her job and has a strong family history of depression and suicide. How would you construct your interview? What measures would you take with the information you have gathered? Why?
CLASSMATE POST
I would start the assessment and interview process by introducing myself to the young women. Then I would try to focus on her feelings by asking her about her eating habits. I would then ask an open-ended question like I see you have lost weight tell me about your weight loss. This will get her to open about the loss of her job or anything else that may be troubling her. As she talks about the lost of her job I will observe her nonverbal body motion such as facial expression, mood and attention span. After that I would ask her about her family history of illnesses such as depression. After collecting a family history, I would proceed to ask what type of medications the patient is currently taking or what medication have you recently stopped taking. After collecting this information, I will take her vital signs, and draw some labs if she’s has taken any antipsychotic medication. I will report to the physician my findings and also suggest an psychological evaluation.