Hi there. Haven't been on the boards much lately as I had a family crisis. But, I'm back now. Just picked up 8 credits for Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. Yippee!!!

Here's some of what you need to know:

Nursing theories and people who originated them.

Role of the therapist in individual, family, group and community settings.

Dynamics of the small group, including facilitator and member roles.

Actions and side effects of commonly presribed drugs and what they're prescibed for.

Common nursing terms; diaphoresis, orthostatic, hypertensive etc.

Therapeutic milieu-originator and purpose.

Anxiety, depression, bi-polar, schizophrenic, anorexic, buliemic, delirium, dementia (alzheimers) ; how to recognize and treat.

Primary, Secondary, tertiary and the nursing role.

Defense mechanisms, ego protective devices.

Cognitive and Behavorial strategies.

Psychological theories: Interpersonal, Psychoanalytic, Social, Existential, Medical.

How the medical role is different from the Psychiatric Nurse role.

Nothing on legal-ethics, committment, and legal decisions like guilty by reason of mental illness.

Review ECT and non-conventional therapies.

Prepared by reading Excelsior's 840 page book and doing the exercises at the end of each chapter. Also used the associated web site and disc that came with the book.

Everything was situational based on a particular nursing theory.

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Crystal King
BS Liberal Studies 3.87
Preparing for GRE
Goal Master Library Science 2009

Ambition is the Path to success,
Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in.

Welcome Back (Hope all is OK)!!!!

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Brian R. Fey Sr.+
M.S. - Psychology
B.S. - Criminal Justice
A.S. - Administrative Management

Congrats. Also had a question maybe you or someone else can answer. Do you have to be a nursing student to take the ECE nursing exams? 8 credits sounds great. I'm an Lpn who currently works in a psych facility but don't intend to go on to become an Rn but I feel that with proper studying I could probably pass it and get 8 credits in the process. Is it also considered upper level? Thanks.

Good work and welcome back becky! I've moved your post and related responses into their own thread so that it's more search-friendly.

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Steve, Webmaster

I don't have any Nursing background and I'm not a Nursing student, so that's a yes. Psychiatric Mental Health is not applicable to a Nursing degree only Applied Professional Credit. It's UL. I believe you do have to be a Nursing student to take some of the other Nursing exams.

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Crystal King
BS Liberal Studies 3.87
Preparing for GRE
Goal Master Library Science 2009

Ambition is the Path to success,
Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in.

Thanks so much for the prompt reply! I can't wait to sign up and take it!

I just passed this exam and I wanted to add some feedback.

Know your abnormal psychology very well. Many questions center on therapy and evaluation of progress for individuals with these diagnoses, so it is very important knowledge for this exam.

I saw nursing theory questions on Linda Richards, Hildegard Peplau, Gerald Caplan, and Maxwell Jones.

Know how the advents of psychotropic medications and brain scan technology have changed the general model of treatment for the mentally ill.

Know group therapy inside and out. Many, many questions on how groups should be run.

Pay close attention to therapeutic responses and the reasonings behind them. Much of the test was situationally based where you need to know not only what to say, but how to say it.

I had a toddler food ritual behavior question pop up on my exam, which surprised me. Know the most common of these behaviors, just in case the question is actually part of the graded portion.

I prepared for this exam by reading the recommended 840 page text. I also bought a NCLEX test prep book called "Straight A's in Psychiatric Nursing," which I skimmed through. It came with a CD that had a 276 question practice exam that was especially helpful in teaching me situationally appropriate therapeutic responses.

Good luck!

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BS Liberal Arts
Excelsior College - 2007
MS Psychology
California Coast University in progress (2009)

Hi Katterina,
A BIG CONGRATS ON FINISHING! I know it feels great! Any future school plans?

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Dawn
Taking the Road Less Traveled
The Journey of A Thousand Miles Starts with The First CLEP
BS-Psychology - Excelsior College
Enrolled in the School of Business, BS in Accounting
After MIS I'll be halfway there!
72 CLEP Credits, 21 DSST Credits, 25 ECE Credits (Including Inf Lit), 6 TESC Credits, 2 FEMA Credits = 126 Total
Withholding 6 Credits for Accounting = 120 for Psychology
12 credits completed toward my accounting degree