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NRNP 6665 PMHNP Care Across the Lifespan I

NRNP/PRAC 6665 & 6675 Comprehensive Focused SOAP Psychiatric Evaluation Template

Name: P.P                DOB: 1/07/1995 Age: 25 yrs Gender: female 

Subjective:

CC (chief complaint): mood cycles between periods of low energy for about 4 to 5 times in a year, and mostly being high for more than a week in a row.

HPI: the patient came for a mental health assessment, and seeking review of her medications after being treated for previous psychiatric symptoms and being started on medications. She has a history of being treated using medications such as Zoloft, Risperidone, Seroquel (quetiapine), and Clonazepam, then stopping due to side effects. She reports getting episodes of low energy, no motivation, disinterest in activities 4 to 5 times a year. During these low periods, she often skips work, and eats too much, and prefers to sleep mostly up to 12 to 16 hours a day. She reports having periods that she is high for over a week, whereby she sometimes has auditory hallucinations. Excessive talking, insomnia for days, increased goal-orientedness, and heightened sexual behavior. The conversation also revealed she has grandiosity and a heightened sense of importance whereby she envisions everything about her future being with celebrity stars.

Past Psychiatric History: history of several admissions or psychiatric symptoms, she has had no suicidal or homicidal ideation since 2017.

Family Psychiatric History: her mother suffered from a psychiatric illness which she thinks was either bipolar and she tried committing suicide once. Her father went to prison for drugs and thinks her brother probably also has been diagnosed with a psychiatric problem before.

Legal History: she has been arrested once for public disturbance, but thinks this was made up because she cannot remember that scene

Substance Current Use: she smokes one packet of cigarettes daily, and has no recent history of other prescription drugs or substance abuse.

Medical History: he has hypothyroidism and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)

•       Current Medications: takes thyroxines for hypothyroidism and oral contraceptive pills for PCOS
•       Allergies:no known food or drug allergies.

• Reproductive Hx: heterosexual female but has a heightened sexual life at different times which places her at high risk.

Review of systems (ROS):

• GENERAL: no fever, night sweats, or vomiting, but amidst to have gained weight when taking some psychotropic medications
• HEENT: no changes in visual acuity, no diplopia, eye discharge, or photophobia. She has no ear pain, tinnitus, or discharge. No history of nose bleeding, recurrent upper airway infections, she has no denture or teeth problems, and reports of good oral hygiene.
• SKIN: normal hair texture and pigmentation, no nodules, ulcers, or lesions.
• CARDIOVASCULAR: she has no paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea, intermittent claudication, palpitations or chest pain.
• RESPIRATORY: no exertion or difficulty in breathing, hemoptysis, or coughing.
• GASTROINTESTINAL: she has a good appetite, no changes in bowel habits, no nausea, vomiting, heartburn, dysphagia, yellowness of eyes, or abdominal pain.
• GENITOURINARY: no urinary urgency, incontinence, hematuria, frequency, hesitancy, dysuria, color changes, or decreased urine output.
• NEUROLOGICAL: No changes in memory, convulsions, syncope, lightheadedness, abnormal sensations, or dizziness.
• MUSCULOSKELETAL: no changes in gait or mobility, no joint aches, swelling, fractures, or history of arthritis or gout.
• HEMATOLOGIC: no bloody or dark stool, no easy bruising, or nosebleeding.
• LYMPHATICS: no peripheral edema, or swellings
• ENDOCRINOLOGIC: she has no polyuria, polydipsia, or constant polyphagia. She, however, reports slowness and a history of current treatment for hypothyroidism.

Objective:

Physical Exam 

General: He was well-groomed, seemed overweight, and normal gait.

Vital signs: BP 123/78; pulse 81 regularly regular, temperature 37.5 ear; RR 21; weight: 142lbs; height 5’2; BMI 26 (overweight).

The rest of the systemic examination was normal. 

Diagnostic results: awaiting results of her lipid profile.

Assessment:

Mental Status Examination: 

Appearance: looked like a young adult, and as she walked in she responded to my greetings and sat with normal posture. She was well dressed, despite having the smell of cigarettes she did not look intoxicated. she had no obvious bruises or body scars on exposed areas.

Level of consciousness and Orientation: she was alert and well orientated to time and place, and person.

Behavior: she was charming, had good rapport and attitude despite getting irritable on few occasions, and being too critical of personal questions. However, she was cooperative on kind assurance, with no abnormal movement or compulsions, and didn’t resist being examined.

Concentration and attention: she maintained normal eye contact, and was attentive throughout the assessment.

Speech: her speech was not pressured, with normal volume and tone, with a short latency of speech. She responded to questions adequately, despite admitting to having a history of excessive talking. Mood: currently has a normal mood she often feels high “keep my moods high, high, high”, but also sometimes gets depressed “I feel like I’m not worth anything”

Affect: neutral Appropriate to content and congruent with the mood.

Thought Process: she expressed herself in a logical and meaningful manner. She had no circumstantiality, tangentiality, or flight of ideas, she had no neologisms or thought blocking.

Thought content: she has ideas of grandeur, and pseudo-delusional conviction of importance, but no poverty of thought, and no suicidal and homicidal ideation. She has no phobias or irrational fears, no obsessions or compulsions.

Perceptual Disturbances: she has auditory hallucinations, no illusions, and no episodes of depersonalization or derealization.

Cognition: her Immediate, short-term, and long-term memory were intact. She had good attention, judgment, abstraction, and level 6 insight.

Diagnostic Impression: Bipolar 1 Disorder. 

The patient was otherwise normal on this visit since the mental status examination only tells about the mental status at that moment, but can change at any time. The presenting complaints and information gathered on a further inquiry made me arrive at a primary diagnosis of bipolar 1 disorder. According to Ganti et al., (2018), Bipolar I disorder is diagnosed when one meets the criteria for a full manic episode with or without episodes of major depression, thus also called manic-depression. Often patients have interspersed euthymia, major depressive episodes, or hypomanic episodes between manic episodes (Perrotta, 2019), of which she presented in a euthymic state on this visit. She is mostly in the manic phase due to undertreatment (López-Muñoz et al., 2018), since the euphoria, heightened energy, and goal-orientedness make her skip her medications.

Differential diagnoses: 

Schizoaffective disorder: patients with this disorder, often meet criteria for either a major depressive or manic episode during which psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions consistent with schizophrenia are also met. Additionally, mood symptoms present for a majority of the psychotic illnesses since some may have atypical features such as flat or blunted affect, anhedonia, apathy, and lack of interest in socialization (Ganti et al., 2018). As such patients often cycle between having a diagnosis between psychotic and mood disorders, thus are given the second generation. antipsychotics such as risperidone to target both psychotic and mood symptoms.

Organic mood disorder due to hypothyroidism: psychiatric symptoms may also be a manifestation of organic disorders such as endocrine or metabolic disorders. Additionally, patients with bipolar also have a high prevalence of psychiatric and medical comorbidities (Grande et al., 2016), such as thyroid disorders or diabetes. She admits to having comorbid hypothyroidism, which could explain the episodes of depression due to undertreatment since she has a history of skipping other medications.

Seasonal affective disorder: This condition is often described as a subtype of recurrent depressive or bipolar disorder. Often patients have recurrent dysregulated mood and affective episodes of regular onset and remission of similar times annually (Pjrek et al., 2016). This condition has been shown to have a high degree of persistence and only about 20 percent of patients get to complete remission after five to eleven years (Nussbaumer-Streit et al., 2018). This is less probable because she described manic symptoms that lasted more than a week (Ganti et al., 2018), thus meeting the criteria for a manic episode.

Case Formulation: this case involves P.P, who is a 25-year-old female with comorbid hypothyroidism and PCOS. Despite having major depressive episodes, where she has anhedonia, hypersomnia, depressed mood, feelings of worthlessness, slowness, loss of energy, and excessive eating, she also experiences manic episodes consisting of grandiosity, inflated self-esteem, increased goal-orientedness, decreased need for sleep, and talkativeness, and excessive involvement in sexual indiscretions despite its negative consequences.

Treatment Plan: most psychiatric conditions require both pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy to have good outcomes. Bipolar patients benefit from mood stabilizers such as lithium, which has been shown to reduce mania and suicide risk, or carbamazepine, especially if the symptoms are rapidly cycling. Most patients have a faster response when mood stabilizers are combined with atypical antipsychotics such as risperidone and quetiapine. Antidepressants are discouraged as monotherapy due to concerns of activating mania or hypomania. I would start her on carbamazepine, at an Initial dose of 200 mg PO q12hr, since it is easier to monitor and make adjustments unlike lithium (Arcangelo et al., 2017). Additionally, I would recommend her to start on Supportive individual therapy, then later enlist her into group therapy to help prolong remission once the acute manic episode has been controlled. I would encourage her to start thinking of quitting smoking and weight reduction since they negatively affect her health.

Reflection notes:

This patient presented minimal challenges since she had good insight into her psychiatric problem. Otherwise, I think I would have explored more on how the symptom cycle between mania and depression and the periods of these symptoms. Additionally asking more about psychotic symptoms such as illusion and delusions would help make a clearer diagnosis with specifiers. If this patient becomes difficult to follow up I would consider referring her to a psychiatrist, and an addiction and wellness counselor

References

• Arcangelo, V. P., Peterson, A. M., Wilbur, V., & Reinhold, J. (2017). Pharmacotherapeutics for Advanced Practice (Vol. 4). Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer.
• Ganti, L. K. (2018). First aid for the psychiatry clerkship. McGraw Hill Professional.
• Grande, I., Berk, M., Birmaher, B., & Vieta, E. (2016). Bipolar disorder. The Lancet, 387(10027), 1561-1572. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(15)00241-x
• López-Muñoz, F., Shen, W. W., D’ocon, P., Romero, A., & Álamo, C. (2018). A history of the pharmacological treatment of bipolar disorder. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 19(7), 2143. https://dx.doi.org/10.3390%2Fijms19072143
• Nussbaumer-Streit, B., Pjrek, E., Kien, C., Gartlehner, G., Bartova, L., Friedrich, M. E., Kasper, S. & Winkler, D. (2018). Implementing prevention of seasonal affective disorder from patients’ and physicians’ perspectives–a qualitative study. BMC Psychiatry, 18(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-018-1951-0
• Perrotta, G. (2019). Bipolar disorder: definition, differential diagnosis, clinical contexts, and therapeutic approaches. Journal of Neuroscience and Neurological Surgery, 5(1), 1-6. DOI: 10.31579/2578-8868/097
• Pjrek, E., Baldinger-Melich, P., Spies, M., Papageorgiou, K., Kasper, S., & Winkler, D. (2016). Epidemiology and socioeconomic impact of seasonal affective disorder in Austria. European Psychiatry, 32, 28-33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2015.11.001

NRNP 6665 PMHNP Care Across the Lifespan I

Course Description

Working from a lifespan approach, this course brings together diagnosis and treatment planning in psychiatry. Topics include psychiatric assessment, application of diagnostic criteria, diagnostic formulation, differential diagnosis, psychopharmacology, and appropriate labs and diagnostics. The learner will select a combination of psychotherapeutic modalities coupled with psychopharmacologic approaches to treat common psychiatric mental health conditions across the lifespan. Legal and ethical considerations for working with clients across the lifespan will be addressed. Students build confidence as they continue to transition from the role of registered nurse to that of advanced practice nurse.

Course Prerequisites

NURS 6630: Psychopharmacological Approaches to Treatment of Psychopathology

NRNP 6635: Psychopathology and Diagnostic Reasoning

PRAC 6635: Psychopathology and Diagnostic Reasoning Practicum

NRNP 6645: Psychotherapy With Multiple Modalities

PRAC 6645: Psychotherapy With Multiple Modalities Practicum

Course Learning Outcomes

By the conclusion of this course, you should be able to:

• Analyze psychiatric assessment strategies and tools
• Analyze ethical and legal issues relevant to advanced practice nursing in mental health settings
• Apply knowledge to prepare for certification as a nurse practitioner
• Evaluate evidence-based treatment approaches for mental health disorders across the lifespan
• Analyze factors that inform the expression, course, and prevalence of psychopathology
• Assess patients across the lifespan with mental health disorders
• Develop differential diagnoses for patients across the lifespan with mental health disorders
• Develop comprehensive treatment plans for patients across the lifespan with mental health disorders
• Develop patient education materials to address patient health needs
• College of Nursing Alignment of Learner Outcomes

Click on the following link to access the College of Nursing Alignment of Learner Outcomes:

Document: NRNP 6665 College of Nursing Alignment of Learning Outcomes (PDF)

Course Materials

Please visit the university bookstore via your Walden student portal to ensure you are obtaining the correct version of any course texts and/or materials noted in the following section. When you receive your materials, make sure that all required items are included.

Course Text

American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). https://go.openathens.net/redirector/waldenu.edu?url=https://dsm.psychiatryonline.org/doi/book/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787

Note: This required text is available for purchase. It is also accessible through the Walden Library.

Hilt, R. J., & Nussbaum, A. M. (2016). DSM-5 pocket guide for child and adolescent mental health. American Psychiatric Association Publishing.

Note: This text is available in the Walden University Library.

Sadock, B. J., Sadock, V. A., & Ruiz, P. (2015). Kaplan & Sadock’s synopsis of psychiatry (11th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.

Note: You should already have this book from prior coursework.

Thapar, A., Pine, D. S., Leckman, J. F., Scott, S., Snowling, M. J., & Taylor, E. A. (2015). Rutter’s child and adolescent psychiatry (6th ed.). Wiley Blackwell.

Zakhari, R. (2020). The psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner certification review manual. Springer.

Refer to your textbooks from prior prerequisite coursework, as needed.

Recommended text

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

Note: If the print edition of these books are referenced here, electronic versions also may be available and may be acceptable for use in this course. If an electronic version is listed, no print version is available.

Other readings (journal articles, websites, book excerpts, etc.) are assigned throughout the course and may be found within each Module.

Media

Assigned course media elements may be found in one or more modules of the course and are available via a streaming media player or a hyperlink to the individual item.

Primary and Secondary Sources

Review the following information prior to selecting resources for assignments.

Primary: A primary source is an original document that is the first account of what happened. A research report is primary, and you can tell because it includes materials and methods demonstrating how the research was done.

Some creative work is also primary, such as poetry, novels, and interviews of people who experienced something first hand. In nursing, which is an evidence-based discipline, we strive to use primary research that is published in scholarly, peer-reviewed journals.

Scholarly, peer-reviewed journal: Scholarly journals publish papers by professional authors and experts in the field using a peer-review process to review the work and assure quality before publishing. The focus of a scholarly journal is to provide accurate information for scholars and other researchers. The focus is on content rather than advertising, a direct contrast to popular media. Scholarly journals publish both primary and secondary papers, the former usually noted as original research and the latter as reviews and commentaries. Letters to the editor may also be published but should be recognized as opinion pieces.

Note: When selecting articles for course assignments, you are advised (unless you are referencing seminal information) to focus on work published within the past 5 years.

Secondary: A secondary source is one step removed from the original source. This work interprets and often compiles other work, and it includes review articles, textbooks, fact sheets, and commentaries about a topic. It also includes news reports of original research. Secondary work is more prone to error and bias than primary work because it is being filtered through an additional person or persons.

Review papers can be useful to glean information about a topic and to find other sources from the reference list, but it is the original, primary research that should be relied on most heavily in demonstrating scholarship, depth, and validation of factual information.

Course Assignments

1. Participation in Discussions: The exchange of ideas among colleagues engaged in scholarly inquiry is a key aspect of learning and is a requisite activity in this course. You are expected to participate in weeks with a Discussion by posting a response to a prompt or question in the weekly Discussion area. In addition, you are expected to respond to your fellow students postings. To count as participation, responses need to be thoughtful; that is, they must refer to the week readings, relevant issues in the news, information obtained from other sources, and/or ideas expressed in the postings of other class members. You may ask questions or offer further information or links about the subject. Please pay attention to grammar and spelling, as consistently poorly written posts will receive grade penalties. In grading the required Discussion postings, your Instructor will be using the Discussion Posting and Response Rubric, located in the Course Information area.

Note: Unless otherwise noted, initial postings to Discussions are due on or before Day 3, and response postings are due on or before Day 6. You are required to participate in the Discussion on at least 3 different days (a different day for main post and each response). It is important to adhere to the weekly time frame to allow others ample time to respond to your posting. In addition, you are expected to respond to questions directed toward your own initial posting in a timely manner.

2.Assignments: The Assignments provide you the opportunity to apply the skills and knowledge gained through the Learning Resources. See the Assignment area of specific weeks for detailed descriptions of the Assignments. In grading the required Assignments, your Instructor will be using rubrics located in the Course Information area.

Note: The course Assignments will require that you completely and accurately demonstrate critical thinking via assimilation and synthesis of ideas when using credible outside and course-specific resources (i.e., video, required readings, textbook), when comparing different points of view, highlighting similarities, differences, and connections, and/or when lending support to your Assignment responses.

Academic Integrity Originality Policy

Walden encourages students to use critical thinking to produce original thoughts in discussion posts, assignments, and other scholarly work. This will require that you completely and accurately demonstrate critical thinking via assimilation and synthesis of ideas when using credible, outside and course specific resources (i.e., video, required readings, textbook); when comparing different points of view, highlighting similarities, differences, and connections; and/or when lending support to your responses. Using too many direct quotes or ineffective paraphrasing does not demonstrate originality.

To demonstrate originality requires the use of paraphrasing. According to the Walden Writing Center (n.d.), Paraphrasing in academic writing is an effective way to restate, condense, or clarify another author’s ideas while also providing credibility to your own argument or analysis (Introduction to Paraphrasing). As you discuss those sources, paraphrasing allows you to use your own words and sentence structure to talk about the information you gleaned from those sources. (Walden Writing Center, n.d., Introduction to Paraphrasing).

Ineffective paraphrasing occurs when authors paraphrase a source but do not use their own sentence structure or vocabulary to effectively reword that source. The issue here is often that the student’s paraphrase simply uses synonyms for the source original wording and is not different enough from the original source’s wording. Ineffective paraphrasing can occur when an author does not use his or her own wording or voice to paraphrase entire paragraphs or individual sentences. (Walden Writing Center, n.d.,Examples of Paraphrasing, slide 10).

For more information, refer to the Writing Center Introduction to Plagiarism & Intellectual Property at https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/modules/plagiarism#s-lg-box-8548804

Assignments, discussion posts, or other scholarly work that does not demonstrate originality and/or lacks proper citation to credit original sources/authors will receive a grade reduction amounting up to 10%.

Grading Criteria and Total Components of a Grade
Course grades will be based on participation (postings) and completion of assignments listed below.

Letter grades will be assigned as follows:

90%-100% = A

80%-89% = B

70%-79% = C

< 70% = F

Note: Please see below the policy on Incomplete (I) grades.

Assignment Total Points* Percentage
(Weighted)

Discussions (x 2) 200 10%

Assignments (x 6) 600 40%

Exams (x 2) 200 50%

Total 1,000 100%

*Each Assessment is graded on a 100-point scale.

Incomplete Grade Policy

Per university policy, Incomplete grades can be granted only to students who have already met the minimum criteria for active weekly participation in a course (including weekly postings in online courses) and have completed at least 80% of other coursework. Incompletes can be awarded when, because of extenuating circumstances, a student has not met additional course requirements, including but not limited to written assignments, group projects, and research papers, as applicable. All Incomplete grades are awarded at the discretion of the Course Faculty.

Students who are eligible for an Incomplete must contact the Course Faculty to request the grade as soon as possible. Students who do not meet the criteria listed above will not be allowed to earn an Incomplete. If the Incomplete is approved, the Faculty Member will work with the student to outline the due date(s) for remaining work. Under no circumstances will the new due dates extend beyond 50 days from the last day of the term. Faculty will then have 10 days to assess the work and post the permanent grade before the university-allotted Incomplete time limit of 60 days expires. All Incomplete grades not resolved within the time allotted will convert to permanent grades of F.

Instructor Feedback Schedule

The Instructor will log in to the course during the week to monitor the weekly Discussion area. Feedback will be provided via the My Grades area, the Discussion area, and/or the Announcements page.

You can expect your weekly assignment grades to be posted within 10 calendar days of a due date. Instructor feedback and explanation is provided whenever full credit is not achieved. Depending on the nature of the feedback, Instructor responses may be posted to the Discussion area or included in the My Grades area.

Your Instructor goal is to act as a discussion and learning facilitator rather than a lecturer. The Instructor will not respond to every posting by every individual, so please feel free to ask your Instructor if you would like some personal feedback on a particular assignment posting, or any time you have any questions regarding your assignments or your grade.

Course Procedures

All class Discussions take place in the Discussion areas.

You are encouraged to post course-related questions to the Contact the Instructor area, as they may be of interest to all; however, if your question is urgent, it is often best to email the Instructor. If your emailed question is thought to be of benefit to all, it may be responded to by the Instructor via email to all or posted as an announcement.
Instructor feedback on content and writing issues that is thought to be of benefit to the entire class may be posted to the Contact the Instructor area; however, most personal critique will be done privately in the Grade Center. Be sure to check the Grade Center for comments every week, even if you received full credit.

Please feel free to use the Class  to initiate and participate in conversations not directly related to the course. This is an excellent opportunity to get to know other students better. The Instructor will browse the Class Café occasionally but generally will not respond to conversations posted there unless students have specific questions for him or her.

Check the email account you use for official Walden University business on a regular basis. The expectation is that you are checking this email account daily during the week. If you experience difficulty sending or receiving Walden email, please contact the Student Support Team right away. Contact information for the Student Support Team is located in the Student Support area.

Review all materials in the Course Information area as well as the materials contained under each of the weekly buttons.

Resubmission of assignments is not permitted after due dates. Students are expected to review their work and submissions of work carefully prior to due dates. Faculty may open a second submission area for assignment resubmission prior to due dates if students report submission errors. Assignments are graded after due dates as the final product ready for grading. Errors in submissions noted after due dates may result in a grade of zero.
Preferred Methods for Delivering Assignments

Be sure that you post to the correct Discussion area each week. Do not email postings to the Instructor. For all initial Discussion postings, make sure that the first sentence of your posting reads Main Question Post. For your responses to the response postings of others, make sure that the first sentence of your response reads Response. These actions will ensure easily identifiable subject lines for your postings and responses.

Assignments are submitted to the SafeAssign link and named according to the week in which the Assignment is submitted. Directions for naming each Application Assignment are included in each week Assignment area.

Please be sure that all written Application Assignments are saved and submitted as a  file.

All email correspondence must contain the subject line NRNP 6665-XX-NAME (XX is the section number) followed by a brief description of the subject. This subject line convention ensures that your email will be easily identified and responded to in a timely manner. It is required that the email contain a signature that matches the official name used in the course.

Faculty will not grade assignments (notes/videos/discussions) submitted through email. All assignments must be submitted to the assignment area for grading within the course room.

All Kaltura assignment videos will be submitted through the assignment submission area by students for grading. Faculty will not pull student videos from the “MyMedia” section to grade. This is a course requirement, not a preference.

Late Assignment Policy

Students are expected to submit assignments by the due dates noted in the course. In extenuating circumstances, such as illness, the student must contact the Instructor as soon as possible to discuss the situation. In those circumstances, Faculty will determine the appropriate course of action for the student. Depending on the situation, these actions may include recommendations to drop the course (if within the university drop/withdrawal period), acceptance of some or all of the overdue assignments with or without penalties, or failure to accept assignments.

Assignments submitted late without the prior agreement of the Instructor, outside of an emergency absence, or in violation of agreements for late submission, will receive a grade reduction for the assignment amounting up to 20%. Each day late with result in a 4%-point deduction up to day 5. After 5 days, the assignment will be graded a zero. Students should be aware that late assignments may not receive the same level of written feedback as do assignments submitted on time.

Discussion Board, Midterm Exam, and Final Exam Late Policy

The late policy applied to discussion boards, midterms exams, and final exams are different than course assignments and are as follows. Students are expected to complete discussion boards, midterms exams, and final exams by the due dates noted in the course. If students do not complete the discussion boards or initiate exams by the due date, the grade will result in a zero. In the event of an extenuating circumstance, students must let the instructor know prior to the due date. If the student is unable to do so, he or she needs to notify the instructor as soon as possible and those circumstances will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Any exam that is permitted to be taken late or permitted a retake may be subject to proctoring with audio and video technology.

Keeping Your Coursework

You will have access to the course and your coursework from the course start date until 60 days after the course ends. After this time, you will no longer be able to access the course or related materials. For this reason, we strongly recommend that you retain copies of your completed assignments and any documents you wish to keep. The university is not responsible for lost or missing coursework.

Course Evaluation

At or near the end of the course, you will receive an email inviting you to submit an online evaluation of the course and instruction. All submitted course evaluations are confidential, and only aggregate data and comments will be shared with the Instructor and Program Director. Your feedback is vitally important to Walden University in its efforts to continuously improve programs.

Classroom Participation
In accordance with U.S. Department of Education guidance regarding class participation, Walden University requires that all students submit at least one of their required Week 1 assignments (which includes posting to the Discussion Board) within each course(s) during the first 7 calendar days of class. For courses with two-week units, posting to the Discussion Board by Day 7 meets this requirement. The first calendar day of class is the official start date of the course as posted on your myWalden academic page.

Assignments submitted prior to the official start date will not count toward your participation.

Financial Aid cannot be released without class participation as defined above.

Students who are taking their first class with Walden and do not submit at least one of their required Week 1 assignments (or at least one Discussion post) by the end of the 7th day will be administratively withdrawn from the university.

Students who have already taken and successfully completed at least one or more class(es) with Walden, and who do not participate within the first 7 days, will be dropped from that class.

If you have any questions about your assignments, or you are unable to complete your assignments, please contact your Faculty Member.

Checklist
Print

The module course checklist below outlines the assignments due for the course.

For full assignment details and directions, refer to each module of the course. All assignments are due by 11:59 p.m. Mountain Time (MT) on the day assigned (which is 1:59 a.m. Eastern Time (ET) the next day). The time stamp in the classroom will reflect Eastern Time (ET), regardless of your time zone. As long as your submission time stamp is no later than 1:59 a.m. Eastern Time (ET), you have submitted on time.

To View the Calendar
To view the Course Calendar:

Course Calendar

To View a Printable Course Schedule
For full assignment details and directions, refer to each Module of the course.

Click on the NRNP 6665 Course Schedule (PDF) link to access the Course Schedule.

Document: NRNP 6665 Course Schedule (PDF)

Checklist

Module Assignment Title

Module 1 Special Considerations Related to Children and Adolescents; Ethical and Legal Issues

Week 1 Child and Adolescent Assessment

Learning Resources Required Readings

Required Media

Discussion Comprehensive Integrated Psychiatric Assessment

Week 2 Ethical and Legal Foundations of PMHNP Care Across the Lifespan

Learning Resources Required Readings

Required Media

Discussion Ethical and Legal Foundations of PMHNP Care

Assignment Certification Exam Pretest

Week 3 Special Considerations Related to Prescribing for Children and Adolescents

Learning Resources Required Readings

Required Media

Assignment 1 Prescribing for Children and Adolescents

Assignment 2 Study Plan

Module 2 Assessing, Diagnosing, and Treating Mood, Anxiety, Eating, Sleeping, and Elimination Disorders Across

the Lifespan

Week 4 Mood Disorders in Adults

Learning Resources Required Readings

Required Media

Assignment Assessing, Diagnosing, and Treating Adults with Mood Disorders

Week 5 Mood and Anxiety Disorders in Children and Adolescents

Learning Resources Required Readings

Required Media

Assignment Patient Education for Children and Adolescents

Week 6 Eating, Sleeping, and Elimination Disorders; Midterm Exam

Learning Resources Required Readings

Required Media

Midterm Exam Midterm Exam

Module 3 Assessing, Diagnosing, and Treating Neurocognitive, Neurodevelopmental, Dissociative, Somatic

Symptom-Related, Disruptive, Impulse-Control, and Conduct Disorders

Week 7 Neurocognitive Disorders

Learning Resources Required Readings

Required Media

Week 8 Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Learning Resources Required Readings

Required Media

Assignment Study Guide Forum

Week 9 Dissociative Disorders

Learning Resources Required Readings

Required Media

Assignment Controversy Associated with Dissociative Disorders

Week 10 Somatic Symptom-Related Disorders

Learning Resources Required Readings

Required Media

Week 11 Disruptive, Impulse-Control, and Conduct Disorders; Final Exam

Learning Resources Required Readings

Required Media

Final Exam

Bibliography

The bibliography contains the references for all learning materials in the course. For your convenience, a link has been provided to download and save the bibliography.

To access the Bibliography:

Document: NRNP 6665 Bibliography (PDF)