The following assignment includes an assessment of a patient chosen from placement

The following assignment includes an assessment of a patient chosen from placement who is experiencing one main health issue. There is a strong focus on using a nursing model and the nursing process which provides evidence from the key health issue. Throughout will entail a range of skills and tools used every day in healthcare to provide effective person-centred care. By gaining consent from the patient to use their information for this assignment, this respected their right to confidentiality and is maintained throughout using the Data Protection Act 1998. It was agreed upon that the fake name “Karen” will be used in this assignment, adhering to the Nursing Code of Conduct (NMC, 2015).Karen is a 55 year old female currently living at her own home independently. She is single with no children. Karen’s father is deceased and visits her mother regularly in the care home she now lives since the passing of her husband. Karen has 3 sisters and 1 brother keeping in contact with them regularly but finds difficulty meeting up with them due to geographical location. Karen in 2014 was diagnosed with a form of breast cancer. Breast cancer is when cells in your breast grow in an uncontrolled way and form a tumour. It is the most common cancer in the UK (Macmillan 2019). Karen from a young age has always loved mountain climbing and taking part in regular exercise and eating healthily, making a range of nutritious meals and snacks but has found this quite difficult due to the impact Karen’s breast cancer diagnosis and treatment has impacted on her. Karen now states that she is not eating nutritious meals and has a lack of motivation to do the things she once loved due to the fatigue her treatment has caused her to experience. There have been a range of studies that can relate to Karen’s experiences, linking with cancer treatment and fatigue. Karen is motivated to get through her treatment and is keeping positive regardless of how ill she can get and wants to keep her independence as long as she can, living alone and getting back to being able to do the activities she loves doing.To gain Karen’s subjective information required, an informal interview was carried out along with her patient notes. This from of interviewing can be used as an effective therapeutic communication skill. Within The NMC (2015) there is a clear emphasis on how important communication is within a healthcare setting outlining how nursing staff are required to take the right steps in meeting the needs of an individual in their care. Any nurse working with patients must show empathy and be objective by taking good use of a range of questioning techniques that apply to every stage of the patients assessment. Both open and closed questions were asked in the interview. In the beginning closed questions were used to gain understanding of Karen’s personal information and key facts. Throughout the rest of the interview open questions were used to gain insight into problems recognised by the patient and through the use of probing questions this defined problems in identifying Karen’s understanding.