Review your Clinical Skills Self-Assessment Form you submitted last week and think about areas for which you would like to gain application-level experien

Desired Clinical Skills for Students to Achieve

Confident (Can complete independently)

Mostly confident (Can complete with supervision)

Beginning (Have performed with supervision or need supervision to feel confident)

New (Have never performed or does not apply)

Comprehensive psychiatric evaluation skills in: 

Recognizing clinical signs and symptoms of psychiatric illness across the lifespan

Mostly confident under supervision

Differentiating between pathophysiological and psychopathological conditions 

Confident

Performing and interpreting a comprehensive and/or interval history and physical examination (including laboratory and diagnostic studies) 

Mostly confident

Performing and interpreting a mental status examination 

Mostly confident

Performing and interpreting a psychosocial assessment and family psychiatric history 

Beginning

Performing and interpreting a functional assessment (activities of daily living, occupational, social, leisure, educational).

Mostly confident

Diagnostic reasoning skill in:

Developing and prioritizing a differential diagnoses list

Confident

Formulating diagnoses according to DSM 5 based on assessment data 

Confident

Differentiating between normal/abnormal age-related physiological and psychological symptoms/changes

Confident

Pharmacotherapeutic skills in:

Selecting appropriate evidence based clinical practice guidelines for medication plan (e.g., risk/benefit, patient preference, developmental considerations, financial, the process of informed consent, symptom management) 

Mostly confident

Evaluating patient response and modify plan as necessary 

Beginning

Documenting (e.g., adverse reaction, the patient response, changes to the plan of care)

Mostly confident

Psychotherapeutic Treatment Planning:

Recognizes concepts of therapeutic modalities across the lifespan

Beginning

Selecting appropriate evidence based clinical practice guidelines for psychotherapeutic plan (e.g., risk/benefit, patient preference, developmental considerations, financial, the process of informed consent, symptom management, modality appropriate for situation) 

Confident

Applies age appropriate psychotherapeutic counseling techniques with individuals, families, and/or groups

Beginning

Develop an age appropriate individualized plan of care

Confident

Provide psychoeducation to individuals, family, and/or groups

Confident

Promote health and disease prevention techniques

Confident

Self-Assessment skills:

Develop SMART goals for practicum experiences 

Confident

Evaluating outcomes of practicum goals and modify plan as necessary 

Confident

Documenting and reflecting on learning experiences

Mostly confident

Professional skills:

Maintains professional boundaries and therapeutic relationship with clients and staff

Confident

Collaborate with multi-disciplinary teams to improve clinical practice in mental health settings 

Confident

Identifies ethical and legal dilemmas with possible resolutions

Confident

Demonstrates non-judgmental practice approach and empathy

Mostly confident

Practices within scope of practice

Confident

Selecting and implementing appropriate screening instrument(s), interpreting results, and making recommendations and referrals:

Demonstrates selecting the correct screening instrument appropriate for the clinical situation 

Mostly confident

Implements the screening instrument efficiently and effectively with the clients

Beginning

Interprets results for screening instruments accurately

Mostly confident

Develops an appropriate plan of care based upon screening instruments response

Beginning

Identifies the need to refer to another specialty provider when applicable

Beginning

Accurately documents recommendations for psychiatric consultations when applicable

Confident

On psychiatric evaluation, I am confident in clearly distinguishing psychopathologic conditions from pathophysiological diseases. I am confident in classifying some of the common psychopathological psychiatric conditions and the extent of their impact on patients. On diagnostic skills, I am confident in coming up with a diagnosis using the DSM-5 criteria according to the assessment data. The use of DSM-5 in identifying psychiatric conditions plays a big role in facilitating the accuracy of diagnosis due to the correct identification of the signs and symptoms (Sharp & Miller, 2022). I can competently combine both subjective and objective data to identify the correct diagnosis. In addition, I can also identify the differential diagnoses according to their priorities. I can also clearly identify the impact and contributions of age on psychological and physiological conditions. Some of the age-related conditions affect individuals to different degrees and symptoms may vary according to age (Ibrahim et al., 2024). In pharmacotherapeutics, I can clearly identify the risks and benefits of medications and also identify the patient factors that affect the use of the medications like affordability and client's preferences.

I can also develop SMART and clear goals and continuous modifications as per the client's needs. Moreover, I am also confident in most of my professional skills. I am able to maintain good professional relationships with clients. I usually apply ethical principles like confidentiality, beneficence, and justice when dealing with clients to ensure the best outcome and provision of quality services. Adherence to ethical principles in nursing ensures quality patient care and also cushions the nurse against legal problems (Grace & Uveges, 2022). I continuously apply good communication skills in my daily relationship with various professionals within the unit. Excellent communication skills make work easier and prevent errors in management of patients. The hallmark of my strengths is the ability to always maintain the scope of practice

I need to grow more on psychosocial assessment and family psychiatric history identification. I can improve on the identification of the link and influence of family on patient condition like family history of factors influencing the development of mental health conditions. I can also do more on evaluating the condition of the patient and modifying treatment plan according to the response of a patient on treatment. Continuous evaluation of the treatment plan leads to client satisfaction and maximum utilization of the available pharmacotherapeutics (Martin-Key et al., 2022). I also need to work more on perfecting the ability to select appropriate screening tools and the implementation in patient care. Selecting the correct screening tool is essential in identifying the correct prognosis and predicting the desired client's outcome (Martin-Key et al., 2022). I also have the opportunity to identify the relationship and the influence of the screening tool on the plan of care. The plan of care has to be developed from the screening tool as a result of the correct identification of the presenting problems and the areas of treatment and management.

1. Goal: Consider maximum communication with client, relatives and professionals

a. Objective: Use available communication means in unit communication with clients

b. Objective: Use means of communication in interactions with other health professionals

c. Objective: Ensure communication improves quality of care.

2. Goal: Use skills in selecting screening tools

a. Objective: Apply nursing concepts in differentiating tools

b. Objective: Use nursing knowledge in identifying psychiatric conditions

c. Objective: Use the diagnostic tools in patient management

3. Goal: List the diagnosis, differential diagnosis, management and continuous care.

a. Objective: Develop diagnosis from diagnostic tools

b. Objective: Come up with differential diagnoses by exploring nursing knowledge.

c. Objective: Identify correct treatment and subsequent care.

4. Goal: Apply legal ethics in nursing

a. Objective: Maintain legal standards in patient care

b. Objective: Apply therapeutic communication with clients

c. Objective: Recognize cultural differences and diversities among clients