Care Plan for a Schizophrenic Patient

Description

Outside a Toronto courthouse, an interdisciplinary team consisting of a lawyer, two social workers and two nurses are arguing about the ways to punish a schizophrenic patient who recently committed a heinous crime. The lawyer feels that the patient should be imprisoned and that he must face legal consequences for his actions. The social workers are worried about the patient’s mental health and feel that the patient should be put in a psychiatric facility. The social worker will also provide the public with an understanding of mens rea (the mental element, in which the person had the intent to commit the crime), along with looking at social factors, such as social class, education, community safety, their accessibility to healthcare etc, and how their social location has a contribution to the events leading up. The nurses are focusing on the physical health of the patient and looking to make sure the patient does not need any immediate medical attention. The nurses are also worried if the staff in the jail would be able to appropriately care for a schizophrenic patient. If not treated properly, they fear that the patient might continue to commit violent crimes.