Family nurse practitioner in the PMHNP program

Family nurse practitioner in the PMHNP program

Family nurse practitioner in the PMHNP program

I’m a family nurse practitioner in the PMHNP program, and I’m about to start my first clinical rotation. I’m getting ready for my first solo interview with a patient who is presenting to the office to establish care after being introduced to the practice’s protocols and procedures. I know that, unlike my experience as a primary care nurse practitioner, the first office visit with a psychiatric patient should be handled differently—especially in the first five minutes—so that I can determine whether the patient’s behaviors are under his control or are the result of an underlying psychiatric or psychological disorder. Melissa is a family nurse practitioner in the PMHNP program, and she is about to start her first clinical rotation.

Family nurses are most effective when they collaborate with other caregivers. Cooperation is not simple, unfortunately. People are prone to become distracted, unorganized, and forgetful at times. Paperwork can get up in the wrong hands or fall into a black hole.

A fifteen-year-old girl visits her primary care practitioner with a one-week history of headaches, nausea, and vomiting. She has no medical or mental background to speak of. The primary care nurse practitioner rapidly reads the chart and notes that the provider has seen this patient frequently in an urgent care environment for the symptoms indicated above over the years. In the chart, she also notices that lung cancer was diagnosed in 2014, and that it was treated with chemotherapy and admitted to palliative care from 2013 to 2015. Melissa is a family nurse practitioner in the PMHNP program, and she is about to start her first clinical rotation.

Are you preparing for your first solo psych evaluation? Are you pondering the best course of action? From taking a history to physical exam skills, this blog will lead you through the processes of a psychiatric (mental health) evaluation.

To protect the patient and follow risk management recommendations, this patient should be checked for suicidal ideation.