ASSIGNMENT HELP | The psychiatric nurse practitioner was informed of the recent emergency room visit during the review of the intake paperwork completed by Lucia’s mother.

Name: Lucia
Age: 15
Gender: Female
Guardian/parent: Mother
Other details: Hispanic
ucia was seen in an emergency room two days earlier for nausea, abdominal pain and vomiting. She was then seen at the outpatient mental health clinic by the psychiatric nurse practitioner, who worked under the supervision of the off site psychiatrist. The clinic received federal funding.
The psychiatric nurse practitioner was informed of the recent emergency room visit during the review of the intake paperwork completed by Lucia’s mother. The psychiatric nurse practitioner prescribed Zofran 4 mg by mouth every 4 hours prn for nausea and Prozac 40 mg by mouth every morning on a prescription pad which had been pre-signed by the supervising psychiatrist. The psychiatric nurse practitioner’s notes indicated that the Prozac was prescribed for depression, but an in depth screening and safety risk assessment was not documented.
2February 2012
The patient was instructed to return in one month. Three weeks later Lucia hung herself in her bedroom closet with a belt. She was found by her mother and brother and was transported to a nearby hospital. The patient suffered a catastrophic brain injury and died three years later. She required around-the-clock care during those three years.
Questions with support research studies
Identify the defendants and the areas of negligence in this case.
Identify and describe appropriate screening measures and safety risk assessment procedures in adolescents with depression.
Reflect on this case and identify what you would have done differently as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner.
Review the risks that NPs face associated with practice identified in Buppert (2018) p. 289 and identify which of these apply to the case. What strategies might have reduced the risk of the outcome presented in this case? Refer to Buppert (2018) Chapter 8: Risk Management.
What do you think the verdict was and why?

MODEL ANSWER

PNHNP -Legal Case

The Defendants and Negligence Areas

In this case, the nurse is the defendant since the claim is against them and they used a pre-signed prescriptive authority contract that shifted all obligations of actions to them. As such, the law expects the nurse to take full responsibility for their medical | PLACE YOUR ORDER NOW AT writtask.com | civil negligence elements must comprise a duty call that the practitioner owes the patient. When the practitioner fails to execute their duty as per the standard requirements and it results in damages, a breach | PLACE YOUR ORDER NOW AT writtask.com | must demonstrate that the actual injury occurred and must provide proof of a duty breach by the practitioner.

In this case, the nurse failed to record a comprehensive screening and safety risk evaluation as per the practice standards. Moreover, the nurse failed to obtain more information concerning the patient from the previous caregiver and relied on the mother’s | PLACE YOUR ORDER NOW AT writtask.com | that practitioners cannot afford to give the benefit of the doubt when making medical decisions, which amounts to duty negligence.

Screening Measures and Safety Risk Evaluation Procedures in Adolescents with Depression

Siu et al. (2016) postulate that practitioners must screen adolescents aged 12 and older as per the US Preventative Task Force (UPSPSTF) | PLACE YOUR ORDER NOW AT writtask.com | can use the PHQ-9, initially meant for screening adults, but later adjusted to fit adolescents. The form contains nine criteria items for acute depression and has a higher sensitivity of 89.5 percent and specificity of 77.5 percent than a planned mental health review diagnosis (Wood, 2018). Practitioners must record risk evaluations to prevent negligence lawsuits and | PLACE YOUR ORDER NOW AT writtask.com | must include all details and parts of the PHQ-9 including the diagnosis, score, self-harm-risk statement, referral plans, follow-ups, plan for further evaluations, and the underlying reason for the current assessment (Mitchell et al., 2016).

Reflect on this Case and identify what you have done differently as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner The first thing to do is to ensure that I perform a general evaluation and examine the patient to know the cause of the patient’s | PLACE YOUR ORDER NOW AT writtask.com | relying on the mother’s information but request for the patient’s previous clinical records to establish and assess the underlying condition’s | PLACE YOUR ORDER NOW AT writtask.com | perform a risk evaluation to ascertain the medication’s safety, particularly when prescribing psychotic drugs. Moreover, I would account for any medication contraindications and the patient’s age. Lastly, I would ask whether the patient is currently using any…