Characteristic Findings for a Stroke

The characteristic findings for a stroke are defined by the impact of the stroke on the survivors, their family members, and loved ones. The behavioral changes of stroke survivors, their perception towards their roles in the families, and the loss of social support and connection with family members and friends outline the major characteristic findings for a stroke. Stroke adversely affects the lives of patients and their families. For instance, the behavioral changes for the survivors may put his or her family members in shock and continuous grief and depression based on their failure of the patient to recognize his or her family or experience difficulty in adjusting to his daily routines and roles in the family (Ryan, Harrison Gardiner & Jones, 2017). Also, it would be quite difficult for the family members of the patient to keep their social support and connection with friends since taking care of such a patient would prove quite demanding. The patient may also experience a sudden change in his or her sexuality since he or she may develop or lose sexual interest to his or her spouse as a result of confusion created by stroke. 

The nurse’s role with regards to supporting the patient's psychological and emotional needs is to establish effective patient-communication tactics by making sure that the medical staff or nurses in any given healthcare facility establish an excellent interpersonal relationship with patients. For instance, quality patient-outcome could be achieved in this scenario by making sure that the facility is sufficiently endowed with nurses to offer emotional support to patients through effective patient-communication modalities (Ryan et al., 2017). The survivors of stroke require constant emotional support that can only be shown or achieved through the establishment of excellent interpersonal relationship between a healthcare practitioner and patients. Also, nurses could consider the use of whiteboards in patients' rooms for purposes of engaging the mind of survivors of stroke in an attempt to ascertain their emotional and psychological needs. 

Reference 

Ryan, T., Harrison, M., Gardiner, C., & Jones, A. (2017). Challenges in building interpersonal care in organized hospital stroke units: The perspectives of stroke survivors, family caregivers and the multidisciplinary team.  Journal of advanced nursing ,  73 (10), 2351-2360.