LO1 Critically evaluate the assessment of people with complex mental health conditions and comorbidities and their impact on care coordination.
Open book Exam – Complex Care in Mental Health Nursing.
Level 7
Assessment task
An open-book examination during which you will need to explore ONE scenario related to assessing and planning care in mental health nursing. You will have a choice of two scenarios, which you will be given at the beginning of the exam week. An open-book examination requires you to complete and submit a task within a defined time limit while working off-campus.
Your work must follow the exam questions given and include citations and references.
Purpose of the assessment
The purpose of this assessment is to enable you to demonstrate achievement of the module learning outcomes:
What is expected of me in this assessment?
You will be expected to identify the complex multiple holistic needs of the person in the chosen scenario, and to write a 3000-word report detailing how you would assess, prioritise, and plan care for one need/element of the person’s care.
NB: Use Harvard referencing and in-text citation. Mostly UK resources to be use.
Assessment brief with a checklist
Please see recommended structure and content for your essay below
Introduction
A summarised introduction to your client scenario to set the context and what you plan to cover in your essay in brief.
LO1 Critically evaluate the assessment of people with complex mental health conditions and comorbidities and their impact on care coordination.
Critically discuss your identification and assessment of the individual’s health and social needs as well as any other relevant needs, referencing relevant clinical pathways or relevant assessment tools. Identify the specific area you will focus on and provide a clear rationale for this choice. Furthermore, examine how this focus may influence the individual’s outcomes and promote effective interprofessional collaboration within a complex care setting.
Provide a concise overview of the individual’s current health issues, considering family dynamics and the challenges associated with care and service delivery. Emphasise the main obstacles they face, identify the key priority areas, and outline your approach to developing a care package and discharge plan based on practical, nurse-led strategies/interventions such as relevant psychosocial interventions, family work, crisis management, psychoeducation etc
LO2 Examine critically current partnership, collaboration, and interagency working to enhance care access and delivery.
Critically discuss your assessment of the individual’s health and social needs, referencing relevant clinical pathways or assessment tools applied. Identify the specific area you will focus on and provide a clear rationale for this choice. Furthermore, examine how this focus may influence the individual’s outcomes and promote effective interprofessional collaboration within a complex care setting. Demonstrate your knowledge of key integrated models of care and how this applies to your client group discussing both the benefits and limitations. Support your discussions with relevant policy and guidance.
LO3 Discuss critically the complex provision of mental, cognitive, behavioural, and physical care services across a wide range of integrated care settings to maintain optimal independence.
Critically appraise the selected evidence-based assessment framework, evaluating its theoretical foundations, strengths, limitations, and relevance to the scenario. Examine the complexities of managing holistic and priority care needs, considering clinical and psychosocial factors alongside multidisciplinary contributions. Drawing on current evidence, synthesise nurse-led strategies and recommended interventions to improve health outcomes, enhance quality of life, and provide holistic support for the patient and family in a complex care setting.
LO4 Demonstrate the ability to organise and communicate specialist information to relevant people, including people with a mental health need, their families, carers, and professionals.
Outline an evidence-informed approaches to communication and coordination that ensures timely referrals, escalation, and continuity of care through collaborative discharge planning. Incorporate principles of safe practice, including professional standards, safeguarding, and risk management, while addressing commissioning and resource implications to ensure interventions are realistic, sustainable, and aligned with service delivery frameworks
Summary
Summarise and synthesise the key findings from your assessment and care planning within the selected scenario. Reflect on ONE anticipated barrier to implementing the individual’s care outcomes and critically discuss how this barrier could influence your future nursing practice
Checklist of key areas to include in your essay
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Who is the client and what are their identified holistic needs?
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Has an appropriate assessment framework and tool (s)and recommended nurse led interventions been identified?
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What health, social care policies and NICE guidance to support multiagency working and any assessment and treatments recommendations have been considered and what are their recommendations that are specific to the client group? Are these recommendations happening in practice? Discuss critically.
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Has multiagency working been highlighted relevant to the scenario and complexities of holistic assessment and managing multiple needs and any risk?
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Has intersectionality been considered i.e. gender, race disability, age etc in relation to how they overlap, what are the risk of inequalities as a result?
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Has communication approaches and adjustments for different people been discussed i.e. clients, family, carers, professionals? What communication systems/approaches have been identified that may relate to learning differences/neurodiversity, mental state or culturally adapted approaches where relevant and what are the challenges of different recording systems across agencies in relation to multi-agencies communicating with each other?
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Has the above been discussed critically highlighting the pros and cons of the key areas related to assessment, interventions, multiagency working and communication?
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Is there a summary of key points of your essay? Reflect on one barrier and how you will take this forward.
Suggested structure and suggested word count for each section.
Introduction: Provide a concise overview of the individual’s current health issues, taking into account family dynamics and the challenges associated with care and service delivery. Emphasise the main obstacles they face, identify the key priority areas, and outline your approach to developing a care package and discharge plan based on practical, nurse-led strategies. 150 words
Assessment of Health Needs: Critically discuss your assessment of the individual’s health and social needs, referencing relevant clinical pathways or assessment tools applied. Identify the specific area you will focus on and provide a clear rationale for this choice. Furthermore, examine how this focus may influence the individual’s outcomes and promote effective interprofessional collaboration within a complex care setting. 550 words
Assessment of Planning and Process: Critically appraise the selected evidence-based assessment framework, evaluating its theoretical foundations, strengths, limitations, and relevance to the scenario. Examine the complexities of managing priority care needs, considering clinical and psychosocial factors alongside multidisciplinary contributions. Drawing on current evidence, synthesise nurse-led strategies and interventions to improve health outcomes, enhance quality of life, and provide holistic support for the patient and family in a complex care setting. Additionally, outline an evidence-informed approach to communication and coordination that ensures timely referrals,
escalation, and continuity of care through collaborative discharge planning. Incorporate principles of safe practice, including professional standards, safeguarding, and risk management, while addressing commissioning and resource implications to ensure interventions are realistic, sustainable, and aligned with service delivery frameworks. 1800 Words
Critical reflection and Forward Planning: Summarise and synthesise the key findings from your assessment and care planning within the selected scenario. Reflect on ONE anticipated barrier to implementing the individual’s care outcomes and critically discuss how this barrier could influence your future nursing practice. 500 words
