This chapter reviews prevention, including genetic counseling. It discusses genetic testing for diagnosis as opposed to screening and the treatment for genetic disease. Methods of prevention begin with education of the public and health care professionals and identification of those at risk. Genetic counseling is the process of helping people understand and adapt to the medical, psychological, and familial implications of genetic contributions to disease. The malignant cells often exhibit aneuploidy as well as translocations that are found only within the tumor cells. Genetic errors that arise from specific cell lines are somatic mutations. It is suggested that there is a thorough collection of family, genetic, and medical history for children entering the adoption process. Nurses may play a variety of roles in genetic counseling that reflect their preparation, area of practice, primary functions, and setting. The chapter explains the incidence of chromosome abnormalities.

The initial recognition of the need for a genetics referral may arise when a nurse suspects a genetic contribution to disease because of personal or family medical history and/or findings from a physical assessment. Family history is a valuable and cost-effective tool that is often underutilized in clinical practice. Many common genetic conditions result from complex interactions between genetic and environmental factors. It is critical to collect information about potential environmental exposures to help inform a patient’s risk assessment. Health care professionals should become familiar about toxic environmental agents that are common in their specific geographic location. A growing number of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drugs have labeling that includes pharmacogenomic information, which can be used to optimize drug dosage and prevent adverse and life-threatening drug reactions in a patient or family member.

Nurses working in the field of obstetrics must have a greater depth and breadth of genetic knowledge over any other subspecialty. In gestation, nurses should include education on the effects of teratogens, prenatal screening options, and prenatal diagnoses. After delivery, early recognition of genetic disorders is important for immediate initiation of potentially life-saving therapies. Preconception education is a critical component of health care for women of reproductive age. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend that all women of childbearing age consume 0.4 mg of folic acid daily to prevent neural tube defects (NTDs). Counseling can still be useful in terms of optimum pregnancy management in a setting best able to cope with any anticipated problems. Complex and multifaceted maternal and fetal factors influence the consequences of drugs, radiation, and chemical and infectious agents to the developing fetus.

This chapter examines pre- and postconference expectations and activities, explores forms to be used by the professor and the students, suggests care plans and patient assignments, and describes sample concept maps and a math skills assessment. A student with no experience in health care may be shy or sheepish when it comes to hands-on care. It may be of benefit for the students to be paired in the first few weeks of clinical classes. The care plan forms can help guide the student through the nursing process. Medication forms will help the student learn about various medications. Nursing education has adopted the use of concepts maps to assist students in gathering patient information. Patient safety is the number one priority for all health care professionals. Dose calculations are a daily activity for nurses.

This chapter discusses basic review of the admission process, and describes an admission assessment exercise that allows students to assume the roles of both patient and nurse. It also describes the role of nurse in which the student learns to collect patient data and record data appropriately, and also explains the role of the electronic medication administration record (eMAR). Preconference begins with a review of the skills previously mastered: hand washing, obtaining vital signs, and performing those daily nursing activities such as taking assessments and collecting data on patients. The student is responsible for making copies of the nursing notes for the required clinical assignments. With the admission assessment exercise, the clinical instructor can discuss the correlation of the vital signs, medications, past medical history, and familial history. New designs in technology have facilitated new medication administration practices that will reduce the number of medication errors in health care facilities.

Grief is the process that occurs before people come to acceptance. It can be a painful experience involving many different feelings. Losses includes health issues, loss of a career, loss of relationships, an unborn child, and/orability or desire to have children. Experiencing loss and grieving may include physical, emotional, social, and spiritual responses. Grieving is essential for coming to terms with and processing the trauma and resultant losses. Trauma and its accompanying sense of loss may result in a terrible sense of disappointment and failure. Working with mental health professionals and other survivors can be extremely helpful in working through the grieving process. The grieving process involves acknowledgment and acceptance of loss. Psychotherapy is a process of “re-parenting” the inner child who may have had less than ideal caretaking. The neural connections in the brain can heal and change with new experiences.

This chapter aims to help clinicians learn stabilization interventions for use in the Preparation Phase of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) treatment. Using these interventions will aid clients in developing readiness for processing trauma, learning how to manage symptoms of dissociation, dealing with affect regulation, and developing the necessary internal cohesion and resources to utilize the EMDR trauma-processing phase. Earlier negative experiences stored dysfunctionally increase vulnerability to anxiety disorders, depression, and other diagnoses. When assessing a client with a complex trauma history, clinicians need to view current symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or depression as reflections of the earlier traumas. The chapter outlines the strategies dealing with dissociative symptoms, ego state work, and internal stability that help clinicians to develop an individualized treatment plan to successfully guide the client through the EMDR phases of treatment.

This chapter describes key steps, with scripts, for the phases of therapy with a dissociative identity disorder (DID) client, and for an eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) session with a DID client. In brief, the method employs the artful use of EMDR and ego state therapy for association and acceleration, and of hypnosis, imagery, and ego state therapy for distancing and deceleration within the context of a trusting therapeutic relationship. It is also endeavoring to stay close to the treatment guidelines as promulgated by the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation. The acronym ACT-AS-IF describes the phases of therapy; the acronym ARCHITECTS describes the steps in an EMDR intervention. Dual attention awareness is key in part because it keeps the ventral vagal nervous system engaged sufficiently to empower the client to sustain the painful processing of dorsal vagal states and sympathetic arousal states.

One way of thinking about procrastination is to regard it as a form of addiction; an addiction to putting things off. As with other addictive patterns, the client will choose a short-term gratification instead of going for a long-term result that might, in the end, be more satisfying or empowering. As with other addictions, a procrastinating client often suffers ongoing erosion of her self-esteem. Quite often, procrastination may function as a defense as a way to avoid other life issues that are disturbing. With this type of problem, we can use a variation of Popky’s addiction protocol, and the level of urge to avoid (LoUA) procedure. It is also important to use resource installation procedures to help the client develop an image of the benefits that would come with being free of this problem.