READ- Elderly patients with underlying medical conditions might endure significant
mental health issues. Temple et al. (2021) state that depression and anxiety symptoms that
are underreported, unpublished, or overlooked due to stigma, lack of awareness, or a focus
on physical health concerns. During acute assessments at the clinical site, depression with
Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and anxiety with Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7
(GAD-7) are suitable. However, cognitive function in older adults is evaluated using the
Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). A systematic mental health assessment is
inadequate for patients, including those who present with physical complaints (Hofer &
Hargittai, 2024). The mental health care that I have seen is fairly standard, but there is
inequality involved. For instance, the elderly may be considered less worthy of attention on
their psychological well-being than their physical health, particularly minority backgrounds
or lower socioeconomic status. Based on the findings, language barriers and lack of
culturally sensitive healthcare services are the reasons that cause inequity in care in
mental health service delivery. Implicit biases have been demonstrated to fail to diagnose
or refer to psychiatric treatment in some cases.
Increasing the frequency of mental health screenings in vulnerable populations can utilize
two key changes. Educating healthcare providers such as registered nurses, pharmacists,
and nurse assistants about the necessity of a mental health screening assessment
facilitates every primary care outpatient visit. According to Hofer and Hargittai (2024), it
helps in preventing situations where such mental problems are diagnosed late or never and
necessary treatments commence. Diversify the consultation programs throughout the
community to help increase an understanding of mental health and to decrease the overall
prejudice related to it. Enhance involvement of the targeted population with the regular
mental health care services by involving the community leaders, religious workers, and
local departments of public health. Furthermore, providing telehealth services are vital for
patients who suVer from mobility or transportation issues.
Implement collaborative care for patients where mental health workers are embedded
within the primary care context is critical. In this approach, there is a behavioral health
specialist or psychiatric nurse practitioner present oVering consultations, screening, and
patient follow-up (Temple et al., 2021). It makes mental disorder treatment convenient and
timely, while assisting primary care doctors in handling complicated patients and
conditions adequately since the patient’s health is comprehensively attended to. All
primary care staV should participate in mental health screening and culturally sensitive
care. This training would include perceiving symptoms of mental health in employees and
other persons, managing implicit bias, and practicing the use of trauma-informed
approaches. With the enhanced skills and knowledge that health care providers should
impend, they can oVer comprehensive mental health assessment to vulnerable groups in
society.
a. Instructions- Engage by oVering new insights, applications, perspectives,
information, or implications for practice. Communicate using respectful, collegial
language and terminology appropriate to advanced nursing practice.
Communicate with minimal errors in English grammar, spelling, syntax, and punctuation.
Use current APA format to format citations and references and is free of errors. 2 scholarly
references within 5 years
