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Completing the Mental Status Exam Practical, Hands-On Lessons from the Field

VYNE

Objectives

• Reduce your risk of negative ethical and legal implications that can result from incorrect completion of the mental status exam (MSE) • Quickly assess for suicide and violence • Learn which tools to employ in various scenarios, including: the Folstein Test/Mini Mental Status Exam, St. Louis University MSE, Suicide/Self-Harm Scale, CIWA, and ACUTE© • Assess and understand psychotic symptoms including the differing etiologies of various hallucinations, illusions, and delusions • Make accurate differential diagnoses through correct analysis of multiple considerations: client medications, physical health conditions mimicking psychiatric, substance abuse presentations, and more • Utilize multiple sources of information in considering differential diagnoses • Assess psychotic symptoms and determine if they indicate psychiatric, substance abuse, or medical illness • Administer evaluative tools appropriately and understand their utility • Determine which questions to ask, observations to make, and elements to assess according to American Psychiatric Association guidelines • Evaluate risk for suicide and violence quickly and effectively • Differentiate mental health conditions from substance abuse and medical presentations • Discuss the professional, ethical, and legal guidelines to be followed when conducting the MSE and recommending treatment

Description

Perform and Document the MSE Correctly to Improve Treatment and Liability Protection Completing the mental status exam is the most important task assumed by any behavioral health clinician. Accurate evaluation can be difficult because psychiatric symptoms often mask life-threatening substance withdrawal and/or serious medical conditions including brain tumors, delirium, head injury, diabetes, thyroid disease, etc. However, many graduate programs do not teach clinicians enough about recognizing and differentiating such symptoms. An accurate and efficient MSE is essential to discerning the patient's true condition, developing an effective treatment plan, and, in extreme cases, saving his or her life. This practical seminar will help attendees improve their ability to perform the MSE by teaching them critical information generally not covered in graduate school as well as the American Psychiatric Association (APA) guidelines on the necessary elements for a full examination. Instruction on proper evaluation and keys to differential diagnosis will be a central theme of the course. Included will be information on the assessment of various psychotic symptoms and how to understand their etiology, the use of drug and alcohol screens, clients' medication lists, and more. Attendees will also discover ways of quickly assessing clients at risk for suicide, homicide, and medical compromise. Additional discussion will focus on the role of various information sources for accurate assessment of patients in each age group, including lab values, family members, and medical records. Ultimately, this essential course will teach participants to perform and document the MSE correctly and efficiently to improve both clinical care and liability protection.
Eligible for 6 contact hours. Click on the register button, then CE tab for CEU information.

Date And Locations
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