According to the department of health (2012), Patient assessment is an area that is often ignored. Assessing a patient’s health is an essential aspect of care because it identifies their needs, risk, treatment plan, and any support systems available to the patient (Ross, 2013). According to NICE guideline (2009) practitioners working within an acute in-patient, the environment should have effective skills for assessment such as listening, observation, and effective communication skills.
Furthermore, the mental health policy implementation guide recognises patient assessment as a continues process, and it puts them at the centre of their care, by considering their needs, assesses risk as well as involves them in the decision-making (DH, 2012). According to Callaghan et al., (2015), it is vital to carry these assessments in order to gain information that would inform future interventions, provide a base for decision making and measure outcomes. The process of conducting a patient assessment may be done through observation, interviewing and measurement (Ross, 2013). This can be structured or unstructured. Structured takes the form of a fixed agenda that is measurable and linked to the intervention, while unstructured is flexible in terms of location and timing, not measurable, less threatening and may miss important information