Psychiatric & Mental Health Care

Learning Objectives

After completing this course, you will be able to:

Chapter 1: Therapeutic communication skills and treatment modalities

  1. Identify variables that influence communication between a nurse and a patient.
  2. Describe principles and techniques that enhance communication.
  3. Explain various treatment modalities used by psychiatric-mental health nurses.

Chapter 2: Legal aspects of psychiatric-mental health nursing

  1. List 6 types of psychiatric commitments.
  2. Describe 3 types of involuntary commitments.
  3. Describe client’s rights in a clinical setting.

Chapter 3: Disorders usually first evident in infancy, childhood, or adolescence

  1. Describe characteristics displayed by an autistic child.
  2. Describe the behavioral symptoms of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
  3. Provide a nursing diagnosis of oppositional defiant disorder.

Chapter 4: Delirium, dementia, and amnestic and other cognitive disorders

  1. List common symptoms of delirium, dementia, and amnestic disorders.
  2. List medications used for detoxification.
  3. Identify common physiologic causes of cognitive disorders.
  4. List symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.

Chapter 5: Substance-related disorders

  1. List characteristic effects from the use of major substances.
  2. Distinguish between substance dependence and substance abuse.
  3. List common withdrawal symptoms associated with psychoactive drugs.
  4. Provide nursing diagnoses, interventions, and rationales for substance abuse.
  5. Review medications used for various substance-abuse disorders.

Chapter 6: Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders

  1. Provide examples of positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia.
  2. Formulate communication strategies for dealing with a schizophrenic patient.
  3. Identify various types of schizophrenia and their common symptoms.
  4. Provide nursing diagnoses, interventions and rationales for altered thought processes, social isolation, and risk for violence.
  5. Describe main characteristics of delusional disorder.

Chapter 7: Mood disorders

  1. Provide a diagnosis of major depressive disorder.
  2. List typical symptoms of depression.
  3. Identify factors that contribute to suicide risk.
  4. Provide indications for electroconvulsive therapy and describe the ECT procedure.
  5. Describe bipolar disorders and suggest appropriate communication strategies.

Chapter 8: Anxiety disorders

  1. Describe panic disorder and list symptoms of panic attack.
  2. Provide nursing diagnoses, interventions, and rationales for a client with panic disorder.
  3. Explain behavior modification techniques used in the treatment of phobias.
  4. Describe obsessive-compulsive disorder and provide nursing diagnoses and interventions.
  5. Describe posttraumatic stress disorder and list symptoms associated with it.
  6. List symptoms associated with generalized anxiety disorder and provide nursing interventions.

Chapter 9: Somatoform disorders

  1. List symptoms associated with somatization disorder.
  2. Explain conversion disorder.
  3. Distinguish between somatization disorder and hypochondriasis.
  4. Describe pain disorder and provide nursing interventions.

Chapter 10: Dissociative disorders

  1. Describe how dissociative amnesia occurs.
  2. Identity types of memory loss associated with dissociative amnesia.
  3. Describe dissociative identity disorder.

Chapter 11: Eating disorders

  1. Describe and differentiate between two types of anorexia nervosa.
  2. Establish long- and short-term goals in the treatment of anorexia nervosa and provide nursing interventions.
  3. Discuss therapies that have been found useful in the treatment of anorexia nervosa.
  4. Provide nursing interventions that will decrease the incidence of binge-purge behaviors.

Chapter 12: Adjustment disorders

  1. Identify common types of stressors that bring on adjustment disorders.
  2. List symptoms associated with adjustment disorders.
  3. List common stress management techniques.

Chapter 13: Personality disorders

  1. Discuss the three main clusters of personality disorders.
  2. Discuss and differentiate between four cluster B personal disorders.
  3. Suggest communication strategies for clients with cluster B personality disorders.
  4. Discuss the three cluster C personality disorders.

Chapter 14: Psychological factors affecting medical condition

  1. Identify psychological factors that affect medical problems.
  2. Describe the course of psychologically induced physiologic disturbances.

Chapter 15: Sleep disorders

  1. Discuss three major groups of sleep disorders.
  2. Describe various stages of sleep in adults.
  3. Provide nursing interventions to achieve the goal of a client to sleep sufficiently to feel well-rested.
  4. Teach sleep hygiene techniques to a client.

Chapter 16: Special needs of the homeless person with chronic mental illness

  1. Explain the special needs of the homeless person with chronic mental illness.

Chapter 17: Special needs of the abused person

  1. Describe 5 types of child abuse.
  2. Identify characteristics of abused children.
  3. Discuss various types of partner abuse.
  4. Identify stressors that contribute to partner abuse.
  5. Define elder abuse.
  6. Identify indicators of elder abuse.

Chapter 18: Special needs of the person with HIV/AIDS

  1. List common psychiatric symptoms associated with AIDS.
  2. Provide nursing diagnoses, interventions, and rationales for clients with HIV/AIDS.

Course Contents

  1. Introduction to Psychiatric Nursing
  2. Disorders of Children and Adolescents
  3. Disorders of the Elderly
  4. Schizophrenic Disorders
  5. Mood Disorders
  6. Anxiety Disorders
  7. Somatoform Disorders
  8. Dissociative Disorders
  9. Personality Disorders
  10. Eating Disorders
  11. Substance Abuse Disorders
  12. Sleep Disorders
  13. Sexual Disorders
  14.  

Customer Comments

“The entire course was very good. It has been helpful to me in both my practice and in my relationships.”

– S.F., R.N.