Date of Conferral

2023

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

School

Nursing

Advisor

Francisca Farrar

Abstract

Advances in the psychiatric field have led to the development of valuable tools that can be used in screening patients to understand their condition better. Indeed, instruments such as the Rapid Mood Screener (RMS) have been significantly used to help diagnose conditions such as bipolar disorder. The implication is that such tools need to be appropriately used by health care practitioners such as nurses for better and more accurate diagnostic results. A more accurate diagnosis is a foundation for better patient management and outcomes. Therefore, as part of a bigger plan, mental health facilities should make deliberate efforts to ensure that the nurses and other health care professionals involved in mental health patients’ care have access to and are competent in using tools such as the RMS. This project’s purpose was to use a staff education module to decrease providers’ errors using the bipolar assessment tool. The analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation (ADDIE) model and Knowles’s theory guided the development and implementation of the staff education program for the 12 nurses in the targeted outpatient psychiatric clinic. A pretest/posttest design was implemented to assess the participants' knowledge before and after receiving the staff education. Descriptive statistics were calculated. The mean test score increased by 28%, indicating a knowledge increase for nurses. Training nurses on the effective use of the RMS and other screening tools has the potential to develop the ability of nurses to diagnose mentally ill patients effectively. Health care facilities should evaluate staff awareness of screening tool gaps and implement relevant interventions to bridge identified gaps.

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