Identify people in the patient’s life you would need to speak to or get feedback from to further assess the patient’s situation. Include specific questions you might ask these people and why.

Identify people in the patient’s life you would need to speak to or get feedback from to further assess the patient’s situation. Include specific questions you might ask these people and why.

It would be important to gain information from outside sources such as family, friends, and caretakers familiar with the patient’s daily life. If possible, individuals who have been around the patient from before her husband passed until now. You could ask the patient how she got to the appointment and if someone brought her, you could ask if she would be OK with you speaking with them. There are several questions you could ask.

Have you noticed a change in her interest in doing things?

Have you she seemed down or hopeless?

How has she been eating?

Do you know if she is taking her medications or noticed any side effects from her medications?

Have you noticed any anxiety or changes in memory?

Explain what, if any, physical exams and diagnostic tests would be appropriate for the patient and how the results would be used.

Upon the initial interview, it is possible to screen the patient for depression. There are several ways this can be done. Practitioners can use the Mini-Mental State Exam MMSE), Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form (SGDS), or the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia (CSDD) (Brown et al., 2015). It is important to note that older adults with depression can also have dementia, so screening for dementia would also be important (Brown et al., 2015). The CSDD can detect depression in individuals with cognitive impairment. The SGDS is used because it is fairly easy and short and can detect depression in older adults (Brown et al., 2015). Laboratory testing is also important as many organic illnesses can lead to insomnia and depression. Baseline lab work should include glucose, liver function, complete blood count, Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate, urea, creatinine, electrolytes, B-12, and Iron studies.

List a differential diagnosis for the patient. Identify the one that you think is most likely and explain why.

A differential diagnosis for depression in an elderly patient could be Vascular Depression. It is found in adults over 60 years of age and with no prior history of depression (Small, 2009). It can be found in patients with hypertension or a history of vascular disease believed to cause inflammation within the vascular system leading to the release of cytokines, especially after a stressful event (Jeon & Kim, 2018). When reviewing the patient’s medications, she is taking bother Losartan and hydrochlorothiazide to manage her hypertension, so the differential diagnosis of Vascular Depression is possible.