Implementing the Stepwise Approach for Asthma Treatment Essay
ASSESSING AND DIAGNOSING PATIENTS WITH MOOD DISORDERS
Please note the following for additional guidance:
1. HPI. This is an expansion of the chief complaint. Here you need to extrapolate on pertinent elements of the presentation. If C/C is “depressed”, clarify.. how do you experience that? What impact does it have? How long? Episodic or persistent? Etc. Think of it this way.. Another provider should be able to read your HPI and generate their own DDx. Would they come up with a similar diagnosis and differential? This is NOT a place for expansive elements of the social history etc. unless relevant. For instance, recent loss of a 20-year job leading up to current depression is a pertinent element of the HPI. Other social factors “married, living with wife and 4 cats, went to college, etc.” are not relevant here. Implementing the Stepwise Approach for Asthma Treatment Essay
2. Diagnosis/Differential Diagnosis. Be sure to use DSM-5 terminology and specifiers.
3. Instead of “not mentioned” or “not assessed”, discuss what you would like to know. What is important to know here? What question(s) would you ask? You will lose points if you have “not mentioned/assessed” without expanding on it. Implementing the Stepwise Approach for Asthma Treatment Essay
4. Physical exam/labs/diagnostics: Many of these videos do not include a physical exam. Please include what would be pertinent areas to examine and why. If nothing stands out, at minimum “defer to primary care”. Many psychiatric conditions have medical mimics and there are several causes that lie in laboratory and diagnostic evaluation, so please expand on what pertinent labs you would like to see to further refine your DDx.
5. Screening tools. Please incorporate appropriate screening tools into your “objective” section. I would like for each case to incorporate at least 1 relevant screening tool. This is to help familiarize you with the available tools to help with your differential diagnosis. Implementing the Stepwise Approach for Asthma Treatment Essay
Please consider these elements as you work through the assignment alongside the rubric and let me know if you have questions.
Complete and submit your Comprehensive Psychiatric Evaluation, including your differential diagnosis and critical-thinking process to formulate a primary diagnosis. Incorporate the following into your responses in the template:
Subjective: What details did the patient provide regarding their chief complaint and symptomology to derive your differential diagnosis? What is the duration and severity of their symptoms? How are their symptoms impacting their functioning in life? Implementing the Stepwise Approach for Asthma Treatment Essay
Objective: What observations did you make during the psychiatric assessment? 
Assessment: Discuss the patient’s mental status examination results. What were your differential diagnoses? Provide a minimum of three possible diagnoses with supporting evidence, listed in order from highest priority to lowest priority. Compare the DSM-5-TR diagnostic criteria for each differential diagnosis and explain what DSM-5 criteria rules out the differential diagnosis to find an accurate diagnosis. Explain the critical-thinking process that led you to the primary diagnosis you selected. Include pertinent positives and pertinent negatives for the specific patient case. Implementing the Stepwise Approach for Asthma Treatment Essay
Reflection notes: What would you do differently with this client if you could conduct the session over? Also include in your reflection a discussion related to legal/ethical considerations (demonstrate critical thinking beyond confidentiality and consent for treatment!), health promotion and disease prevention taking into consideration patient factors (such as age, ethnic group, etc.), PMH, and other risk factors (e.g., socioeconomic, cultural background, etc.). Implementing the Stepwise Approach for Asthma Treatment Essay