Therapeutic Nursing Interventions Paper

Nurs403- Transition to BSN Practice

The purpose of this paper is to define a clinical problem, review the literature for
appropriate research supported nursing interventions, critique current practice and
provide a for changing or adapting clinical practice.
Student Approach to Assignment
I decided to select a topic that was important to me and reflected my personal goals as a
nurse to give back to the active military and veteran community. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
is a major concern in this country with a suicide rate of 22 soldiers a day related to PTSD. I
believe more awareness needs to be brought to this clinical issue and nurses become better
prepared to provide interventions to avoid triggers and follow the patient’s routine to not disrupt
their routine schedule, which is incredibly important in the management of PTSD.
Reason for Inclusion of this Assignment in the Portfolio
I included this assignment because veterans with PTSD is a major concern of mine and
directly related to my long-term goal of wanting to work at a VA hospital to give back to the
military. I also believe it is important to spread awareness and I genuinely wanted to research
more information on interventions I can provide to veterans with PTSD.

• Professionalism
o Applies an ethical decision-making framework and legal guidelines to clinical
situations that incorporate moral concepts, professional ethics, and advocacy for patient
well-being and preferences.
In this paper I stated that there are many simple interventions that can be put into
place in the hospital setting to decrease the amount of triggers PTSD patients may have.
Common things such as loud beeping from IV pumps, frequent interrupted sleep due to
labs and/or medications or even the way they are woken up. As a nurse caring for a
patient with PTSD should pay attention to timing of medication that may interfere with a
proper night of rest. It is not uncommon for Furosemide to have an evening
administration time which will lead to multiple bathroom trips throughout the night or
medications such as Lovenox in the middle of the night or the early morning hours before
0700 or antibiotic times for a medication that should be administered twice a day but
scheduled for times such as 1400 and 0200. Incorporate their routine bedtime schedule
and assess the patient for known triggers in attempts to avoid triggering these patients.
• Teaching

o Provides relevant and sensitive health education information and counselling to

patients and families.
I identified that nurses should assess, intervene, and refer veterans with PTSD to
services available for assistance with this diagnosis. Education should be provided
regarding Cognitive Behavioral Therapy that teaches the patient how to modify
and challenge unhelpful believes related to their trauma. They can also be
educated on additional holistic approaches such as Reiki. Patients and their
families should be educated on current therapy treatments that are approved for
PTSD.

Research
o Applies research-based knowledge from the arts, humanities and sciences to
completement nursing practice.
In this assignment, I identified many evidence-based research resources
providing numerous interventions for patients. For example, there is a
PTSD Toolkit for Nurses sponsored by the American Nurses Foundation
was created to teach nurses about the psychological consequences from
stress and trauma in veterans to increase the quality of care and
understanding of this diagnosis. It is an excellent teaching tool for nurses
to use to assess their current knowledge of this diagnosis and to increase
their own knowledge regarding it. Another resource I provided stated that
a randomized crossover waitlist-controlled trial was conducted using Reiki
at the Tibor Ruben VA Medical Center in Long Beach, California and
stated that patients reported to show significant decreases in their PTSD
symptoms when receiving Reiki therapy and standard care and reported a
range of positive physical and psychological effects even though some
stated these effects were only temporary.