Assessment of priority problems according to the NANDA principles is a critical issue in healthcare. It is essential for nurses to thoroughly evaluate the patient’s health status and choose the priority focus (Vera, 2022). For this discussion, I have selected the diagnosis of anxiety and highlighted three priority problems – elevated vital signs, mental status change, and lacking social skills. The assessment cues for elevated vital signs include deviations in temperature, pulse, and blood pressure. These factors might imply either a severe or panic level of anxiety, requiring immediate medical assistance (Wayne, 2022). The cues for mental status change include the patient’s behavior and responses to questions. It is crucial to evaluate the patient’s psychological reaction to various stimuli to identify the severity of the diagnosis. Lastly, the cues of lacking social skills are the patient’s ability to maintain a dialogue and interact with people.
I would prioritize these problems in the following order – elevated vital signs, mental status change, and lacking social skills. The first issue is crucial to the immediate well-being of the patient and might designate a high level of anxiety. The most severe levels of the complication include severe anxiety and panic anxiety, both of which are associated with elevated vital signs (Wayne, 2022). Consequently, mental status is significant since the patients might hurt themselves due to increased levels of anxiety. Lastly, social skills are important, but the patient’s inability to maintain a dialogue is not immediately health-threatening and, therefore, is not a prioritized problem.
References
Vera, M. (2022). Nursing diagnosis guide and list: All you need to know to master diagnosing. Nurse Labs.
Wayne, G. (2022). Anxiety nursing care plan. Nurse Labs.