The interview with the patient is considered the core of the assessment process. One of the main learning goals in the psychiatric curriculum is to perform a psychiatric interview and document the recorded findings (Dreimüller et al., 2019). There are components of the interview process and tools used in helping when it comes to assessing and diagnosing patients. These components are very critical for a psychiatric interview process. The three components are developing the functional relationship between the healthcare professional and understanding the points without any specific information. These components include consciousness, Affect and mood, thought, and perception. Some components need to be considered at the psychiatric interview to achieve effective communication and the proper therapeutic outcomes (Dreimüller et al., 2019).
Different assessment tools are used to diagnose psychic patients, check status, and reevaluate patient response to treatment. The assessment tool assigned to group B is the PTSD checklist (PCL), a post-traumatic stress disorder. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) for the PTSD criteria require exposure to a traumatic event involving actual or threatened death or serious injury (Schinke et al., 2007).
According to Schinke et al. (2007), this event must produce a response of intense fear, helplessness, or horror (criteria A), and the experience of as many as 17 symptoms that are categorized as falling in three symptoms clusters (DMS-IV Criteria B, C, and D), re experiencing, avoidance or numbing, and arousal. According to Schinke et al. (2007), the diagnosis of PTSD requires that an individual experience at least one of five re experiencing symptoms, three of seven avoidance or numbing symptoms, and two of five arousal symptoms.
The most frequently used instrument for the exploration of the structure of PTSD symptomatology has been the Civilian Version of the PTSD Checklist (PCL-C) (Schinke et al., 2007) The PCL-C consists of 17 questions that assess the 17 DSM-IV symptoms corresponding to Criteria B–D. The checklist provides a total score for reexperiencing, avoidance/numbing, and arousal subscales. The PCL-C does not address DSM-IV Criteria A, E, or F (Schinke et al., 2007).
When it comes to Affect and mood, the Affect can be expressed differently because it shows how the patient represents themselves based on their emotions at hand.In addition, if the expression is not in line with the emotions at hand, the patient might be experiencing mental problems.The thought and perception is the last part which would help in patient understanding level of thinking and how they see the questions at hand.
The second question addressed the psychiatric interview, which focused on understanding the patient’s mental health status. This is very important in selecting medical procedures and determining the treatment process. The psychiatric interview components are consciousness, affect and mood, and thought. The perception would play a significant role when it comes to an understanding of the patient’s mental capacity to go through treatment. According to David C. Martin (2020), the components would help bring closure whether the patient has mental issues that are depression, dementia, and others.
Question 3 is about understanding the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, a tool used by clinicians and researchers to determine the signs and symptoms of Psych in a patient.These are the tool used to measure the symptoms, which are depression, psychoses, and anxiety. The Multiple results would be showing the signs of the presence of mental problems (Psychiatric Times Website, 2020). The scale ranging from 17 and 1 shows no symptoms, and 7 indicates moderate to severe psychiatric problems.
The number four question, BPRS, can be used whenever a patient is shown more than one symptom of a psychiatric condition, such as anxiety, guilt, hallucinations, depression, and related behaviors. This scale would be helpful for indication of the severity of the situation that has been a study. This would indicate more or severe psychiatric disorders.
The BPRS helpful to the psychiatric nurse; the scale would be beneficial in determining the severity of the condition, which would help determine the appropriate approach to identify the patient’s conditions because the scale would help in rating about 18 symptoms connected to a psychiatric illness.
Reference:
Dreimüller, N., Schenkel, S., Stoll, M., Koch, C., Lieb, K., & Juenger, J. (2019, May 2). Development of a checklist for Evaluating Psychiatric Reports. BMC medical education. Retrieved December 9, 2021, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31046745.
Psychiatric Times. (2021, March 19). BPRS Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale. Psychiatric Times. Retrieved December 9, 2021, from https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/bprs-brief-psychiatric-rating-scale.
Martin, D. C. (1990, January 1). The mental status examinations . Clinical Methods: The History, Physical, and Laboratory Examinations. 3rd edition. Retrieved December 9, 2021, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK320/.
Schinka, J. A., Brown, L. M., Borenstein, A. R., & Mortimer, J. A. (2007, June 27). Confirmatory factor analysis of the PTSD Checklist in the Elderly. Wiley Online Library. Retrieved December 8, 2021, from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jts.20202.