Diagnosis Made Easier NBCC approved

Diagnosis Made Easier NBCC approved is organized by Homestead Schools, Inc. This course has been approved for a maximum of 6 Contact Hour.

Learning Objectives:
After completing the course, you’ll be able to: 
• List what information is conveyed in a diagnosis.
• Explain the difference between “signs” and “symptoms” of an illness when considering a diagnosis.
• Define and explain the use of “syndrome” in the diagnostic effort.
• Describe the necessary steps taken to arrive at a working diagnosis.
• Define and explain the term “differential diagnosis” when considering a diagnosis.
• Explain the considerations given to medical- or substance-use problem in the diagnostic process.
• Explain and utilize “Occam’s Razor” principle to the diagnostic process when considering complicated clinical presentations.
• Apply to the diagnosis process the principle that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.
• Explain the value of the use of the term “undiagnosed” in clinical work.
• Describe the term “comorbidity” to indicate more than one diagnosis.
• Effectively diagnose comorbid personality disorder when Axis I diagnosis is also present.
• Describe the most commonly overlooked uncommon diagnosis.
• Describe the most commonly overused diagnoses and explain the validity problems such overuse produce.
• Explain the reasons that clinicians must always rethink their diagnosis given that patients may change and clinicians may err.
• Explain the meaning of “false positives” in the context of ascribing a diagnosis and explain the potential problems such could engender in the treatment of patients in clinical practice.
• Explain the ways in which a clinician can utilize background information about a client to improve the accuracy of the diagnostic process.
• Explain the ways in which physical and mental disorders can be related.
• Describe the information that the mental status exam elicits from the patient and explain the ways in which such information can be used in the diagnostic process.
• Diagnose syndromes of depression, dysthymia, and mania with its variants.
• Explain the difference between depressive symptoms and bereavement.
• Diagnose and distinguish between bipolar I and bipolar II.
• Distinguish between various sources of anxiety for diagnostic purposes.
• List the psychotic symptoms required to arrive at a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
• Explain the differences between schizophrenia and organic psychoses in considering the diagnosis of psychosis.
• Distinguish between delirium and dementia.
• Distinguish between amnesia and dissociation.
• List the disorders associated with substance misuse and the ways in which they relate to one another.
• Define personality disorders and identify the most salient characteristic of each.
• Identify clues from the patient’s past and present presentation which could indicate the presence of a personality disorder.
• Identify the types of patients likely to be non-compliant with treatment, and those patients who present with a risk of violence.
• Identify the types of patients more likely to present with a risk of suicide in clinical practice.