I am a second semester student working in Med-Surg. I had the pleasure of caring for a delightful patient this week who was profoundly retarded (her mental functioning is estimated at approximately 18 months of age). She could not communicate with me verbally or understand my conversation with her (according to her caregiver from her group home). She had pneumonia and couldn't understand "take a breath" or mimic my breathing actions.
Where would one look for information on careplans for this type of patient? I have 2 nsg dx books (Cox's and another by Gulanick and Myers) but neither touch on this area. "Impaired Social Interaction" and "Impaired Verbal Communication" won't cut it (at least for me--I need to learn something appropriate for this patient). We don't cover psychiatric at my school until 4th semester. Do I write the care plan where the intervention is aimed at the cargiver?
