Instructions

There are a wide variety of community-based treatment settings in which psychiatric-mental health nurses practice. Mental Health Community Experience is to provide students with the opportunity to compare psychiatric services and identify nursing roles, responsibilities and activities in the community setting. Your campus will determine the number of hours and experiences that you will be required to participate in.  You will probably spend more time than you will be given clinical hours credit for because these are unsupervised clinical experiences.

The community experience must include date and time of attendance with a written report. The campus will determine the community experience hours. Evidence of attendance is documented on the Community Experience Documentation Form on the following page. The form is signed by the group leader, nurse, administration or court officers indicating the organization, address, contact information and number of hours performed. The report must be in APA format, 800 – 1,000 words in length due on the 7th week of clinical. The assignment must earn 76% by the grading rubric and meet the requirements of the specific criteria on the Clinical Evaluation Tool. The report must follow the criteria on the Community Experience Rubric and also include personal reflection and a brief summary of what was learned during the community experience. In addition, include discussions of how the nurse could serve a positive role model and discuss the nursing process within the community setting.

You are the representative of West Coast University and the nursing profession. You are required to dress and conduct professionally in all community experiences. Business casual attire is mandatory. Your phones must be turned off at all times. Be on time and do not leave the groups or hearings early because this may create a disruption in the meeting or court proceedings. Always maintain confidentiality and do not document patients or participant’s names.

Mental Health Community Treatment Settings may include:

Community Experience No. 1: 12 step programs

The student may attend a 12-step program such as Alcoholic Anonymous (AA); Cocaine Anonymous (CA); Narcotic Anonymous (NA); Emotional Anonymous (EA) or Overeater Anonymous (OA). You can find the time and location of meetings by calling a 12-step program on the local directory. Ask for the place and time of the meeting near your home. For safety reasons, it is best that you go with another student. Do not go in groups of more than 2, as this tends to be overwhelming in the group process and limit your interaction with program participants.

Community Experience No. 2: Mental Health Court

Arrive 30 minutes before the first hearing. Attend LPS Conservatorship hearing and Writ of Habeas Corpus (Latin for “present in the body”), which must be granted to anyone on a 14-day hold or a 30-day hold upon request by the patient. Analyze the moral, legal, and psychiatric implication of involuntary commitment. In your discussion, include the reason the patient is being held involuntarily, psychiatric diagnosis and medication prescribed. Do not document the name of the patient.

Community Experience No. 3: Self-help Groups

Identity self-help groups from the local directory or local medical centers. This can be a group sponsored by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), Al-Anon, Parkinson’s disease group; AIDS support groups, bereavement support group or local Hunger Relief Organizations.

Additional community experience:

Psychiatric Adult day care settings, Partial Hospitalization Programs, School Counseling Centers. Community experience must have psychiatric foundation and approved by your clinical faculty.

Documentation Form

Student Name:   Date: 

Organization:  

Address:  

Phone Number: ( _) 

Number of hours performed:  

Contact person and title (print name):  

Contact phone number (if different from facility number): ( )

It has been verified that the above named student has performed   hours of community experience observation at this facility.

Contact person’s signature:  

Course  NURS ____________   Date ______________  Number of Hours __________  faculty Name ___________________

 

Student Name Please Print	Location of Community Experience	Date	Hours	Signature of Student	Agency Representative

Revised 7/2014

 

Student Signature:     Date: 

Faculty Signature_______________________________________________________________ Date:

submit this original attached to the Course Roster for the Date listed above.

COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE PROJECT RUBRIC

STUDENT NAME:    DATE: 

COMMUNITY SITE:   COURSE: 

 

Criteria	4	3	2	1-0	Score
Name, address and purpose of organization	Provides the name and address of the organization. Details a clear description of the purpose of the organization.	Provides the name of the organization and describes the purpose of the organization.	Provides the name of organization and vaguely describes the purpose of the organization.	Did not identify the name, address and/or purpose of the organization.
Population served a. Type of patients served b. Type of health care concerns	Shows an excellent understanding of the population served at this organization.	Presents a satisfactory understanding of the population served at this organization.	Presents an unclear understanding of the population served at this organization.	Did not discuss the population served.
Professional services	Identifies  professional services available in this setting	Briefly identifies professional services available at this setting.	Minimally identifies/alludes to professional services available at this setting.	Did not identify any professional services.
Geographical/environmental issues a.  Facility b.  Physical layout c.  Accessibility d. Transportation issues	Details a complete analysis of geographical and environmental issues of the organization.	Briefly explains geographical and environmental issues of the organization.	Minimally explains issues included in the geographical and environmental issues.	Did not address the geographical and environmental issues.
Social issues of the population	Insightfully details and discusses social issues of the population.	Briefly discusses social issues of the population.	Vaguely discusses social issues of the population.	Did not discuss the social issues of the population.
Organization’s internal and external means of communication	Discusses with detail the ways the organization communicates internally and with the community.	Briefly discusses ways the organization communicates internally and with the community.	Vaguely discusses /alludes to ways the organization communicates internally and with the community.	Did not discuss how the organization communicates.
Activities during the community experience	Discusses with detail the activities experienced during the community experience.	Briefly discusses activities experienced during the community experience.	Vaguely discusses /alludes to activities experienced during the community experience.	Did not discuss activities experienced during the community experience.
Programs or changes to better serve the community	Analyzes what program changes might better serve the community.	Briefly discusses possible program changes that might better serve the community.	Minimally discusses program changes that might better serve the community.	Did not discuss any program changes.
APA format	Follows the APA format without APA violations, grammar and spelling errors.	Follows the APA format with few APA violations, grammar and spelling errors.	Minimally follows the APA format but has multiple violations, grammar and/or spelling errors.	Did not follow the APA format.
Overall Scoring	36 – 30	29 – 23	22 – 16	15 – 9	/36=  %

 

 

 

COMMENTS: __________________________________________________________________________________________

FACULTY SIGNATURE:    DATE: