Nursing Care Plan (NCP) for Mood Disorders (Major Depressive Disorder, Bipolar Disorder)

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Bipolar Disorder Pathochart (Cheat Sheet)
Bipolar Disorder Assessment (Picmonic)
Bipolar Disorder Interventions (Picmonic)

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In this care plan, we will explore mood disorders, including major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder. So, in this mood disorder care plan, we will cover the desired outcome, the subjective and objective data along with the nursing interventions and rationales. 

 

Now let's look at our mood disorder care plan, starting with the subjective data. You may notice that the patient is experiencing some prolonged sadness, fatigue, or inability to concentrate, especially when they're in a depressive episode. They may experience mood swings, where they kind of go from being super happy and energetic, to really sad and tired. This especially happens when the patient goes in between manic depressive episodes. They may experience a change in their sleep or appetite based on their mood. 

 

Now, let's look at our objective data. You may notice that your patient is being very pessimistic or negative about things, or even really tearful when they're talking about things, especially when they're in a depressive episode. A patient that is bipolar might show some really reckless behavior. They might start doing things that they wouldn't usually do like having unprotected sex with multiple people. They might become very restless and have a racing speech. This would all especially be when they're in a manic episode. 

 

Now, let's look at our nursing interventions. You will assess your patient for suicidal and homicidal thoughts and initiate precautions per protocol in your organization, or doctor orders. You want to do this to determine if there's any danger to themselves or others. You want to always promote safety overall. Remove all their belongings if they're suicidal, that way they don't have any weapons available to use. You may want to have the patient sign a suicide contract just saying that they're not going to commit suicide. This is just going to help make them feel more accountable for not doing this. 

 

Encourage communication about feelings and emotions. This will help you to build trust and rapport with your patient. You want to provide activities that don't require a lot of concentration or competition. This is going to help them to relax, but also keep busy. Make sure you provide a calm, relaxing environment. You want to help minimize stimulations to help decrease the exacerbation of their symptoms observed for destructive behaviors. They could become hostile. So just keep an eye on them. If you notice, they're starting to really scratch their arms a lot, or, pace the room, definitely be prepared for anything to happen. Take the precautions as necessary. 

 

You want to provide short, simple instructions. This helps to promote independence. This is going to help them to do what you need them to do, but you're going to provide those instructions very simply and not make it very complicated for them. So lastly, you want to give medications as ordered by the doctor to help improve the patient's functioning. You might give medications such as antidepressants or even antipsychotics to help improve that functioning. And you want to decrease symptoms. 

 

We love you guys. Now go out and be your best self today and as always, happy nursing!

 
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