Diagnostic References (Nursing)

00:01 Now there are different diagnostic reference manuals that we can be using when a person has a mental illness.

00:09 Nurses do not diagnose mental illnesses, practitioners are the ones.

00:17 And it might be a nurse practitioner, it might be a physician, but registered nurses do not diagnose.

00:24 One of the diagnostic references, however, that we can look at to find out these different signs and symptoms, and to keep ourselves abreast of all the different things that are coming up in the world.

00:37 One is the ICD-10 which is the International Statistic Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems.

00:46 The ICD-10 is what practitioners use for billing.

00:51 It doesn't only have psychiatric, it also has medical diseases in it.

00:56 Another one is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders known as the DSM-5, 5 meaning this is the 5th edition of the DSM.

01:08 We also have the Herman and the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association, which really is something that we can use in planning our nursing care.

01:20 It's called NANDA, alright and those are the nursing diagnoses that help us to look at the signs and symptoms that are being presented by each of our individual clients and patients, so that we are able to work with them and find the way to help them get to their optimum health.

01:41 A little bit about this ICD-10.

01:44 The ICD-10 and that is the 10th revision, is a worldwide system that's used to classify all diseases, and it does give some descriptions of the symptoms.

01:56 It tells us about severity indicators, and it's mostly used by practitioners so that they can put the ICD-10 code down -- that is the code, and then payment can be issued by insurance companies.

02:12 The DSM also provides codes and the DSM-5 shows different codes that can tell you whether the patient is in mild, moderate, or severe impairment.

02:26 It is used mostly in the United States and it categorizes the mental illness.

02:32 However, the DSM-5 really does provide very good descriptions and symptoms, as long- as well as those indicators of severity, and I would suggest it's a good reference manual to have on hand.

02:48 Most important, and this is not a diagnostic reference, this is a purpose in nursing, and that is to provide a safe environment.

02:59 So, I'd like to talk to you about the idea of the word "safe".

03:03 If you can think of that S being safe surroundings.

03:09 A, assess. Assess constantly. It is persistent.

03:15 Assess the patient, assess the environment, assess what is going on.

03:23 F, focus. Focus your attention on the patient and the patient's needs.

03:31 And E, evaluate. Evaluate how is it going. Are we meeting the patient's needs? Is the patient being able to engage? And are we able to move them on this spectrum, on this continuum, away from crisis, away from struggle, up to surviving and then into thriving.