-
GeneralTeachers
-
Management of Mental Health Disorders in Primary Care Homepage
Welcome to the Management of Mental Health Disorders in Primary Care course. This course will reinforce your foundational, theoretical, and practical knowledge about the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental health disorders. In addition, students will learn how to improve referral protocols and respond to psychiatric emergencies according to the Mental Health Act (MHA) while also learning about mental health promotion strategies for common mental health disorders in primary care settings. This course also gives insight into mental health disturbances related to substance use disorders, including diagnostic criteria and available treatment options. It provides students with the basic skills needed to effectively contribute to the delivery and quality of healthcare for individuals and populations worldwide regarding the management and treatment of common mental health disorders in primary care settings.
This Management of Mental Health Disorders in Primary Care course uses learning resources from accredited, world-class organizations and governmental organizations such as the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM -5, and the World Health Organization (WHO).
This course was originally developed by the FDP - School of Health Sciences. The course was redesigned by Genikka Camille Gabral, B.ED, MSc; Hugo Andres Rojas Aldieri, MD, MSc; Jean Pierre Musabyimana, MSc, MGHD; Magali Collonnaz, MD, MPH, MSc; Pablo Baldiviezo Rodriguez, MD; Reisha Narine, M.Sc., B.Sc.; Sherian Bachan, M.Sc., B.Sc; Seema Persaud, M.Sc., B.Sc.; Sara Wildman, B.Sc.; and Rhonda Prudent, B.Sc.
For publications on NextGenU.org’s courses’ efficacy, see NextGenU.org’s publication page. Subscribe to our newsletter to be notified of future updates and new courses and to be part of our community.
There are 11 modules to complete, which provide an introduction to:
- Introduction to Psychiatry: Interviews, Symptoms, Classification of Diseases, and Common Medication
- Ethical Considerations
- Mood Disorders
- Anxiety Disorders, Conduct Disorders and Eating Disorders
- Somatic Symptom Disorders
- Psychotic Disorders and Personality Disorder
- Neuropsychiatric and Neurocognitive Disorders
- Addiction-Related Disorders
- Psychiatric Disorders in Elderly and Children
- Emergencies in Psychiatric
- Mental Health Promotion
The completion time for this course is estimated at 97 hours, comprising 18 hours of learning resources, 36 hours to study content and assimilation, and 43 hours of participating in learning activities and quizzes, to assist the learners in the synthesis of learning materials. This course is equivalent to 2 credit hours.
This course requires the completion of all peer activities. At the end of each module, there is a practice quiz of 10 multiple-choice questions. After you’ve completed each lesson, quiz, and learning activity, at the end of the course, you’ll have access to a final exam consisting of 40 multiple-choice questions and a chance to evaluate this course. Participants have up to three opportunities to take the final exam and achieve the required score of >=70%. Once you’ve passed that last test, you will be able to download a certificate of completion from NextGenU.org and our course’s co-sponsoring organizations. We keep your personal information confidential, never sell any of your information, and only use anonymized data for research purposes. Also, we are happy to report your testing information and share your work with anyone (your school, employer, etc.) at your request.
Engaging with this course:
This free course is intended for primary health workers, nurses, medical students, and other health professionals who would like to learn the diagnosis, management, and treatment of mental health disorders in primary care settings.
To obtain a certificate, a learner must first register for the course and then successfully complete:
- all the reading requirements;
- all quizzes and pass with a 70% with unlimited attempts;
- all peer activities;
- all discussion forums;
- the final exam with a minimum of 70% and a maximum of 3 attempts;
- the self and course evaluation forms.
To obtain credit:
- Complete all requirements listed above for the certificate, and
- Your learning institution or workplace should approve the partner-university-sponsored NextGenU.org course for educational credit, as they would for their learner taking a course anywhere.
NextGenU.org is happy to provide your institution with:
- A link to and description of the course training so they can see all its components, including the co-sponsoring universities and other professional organization co-sponsors;
- Your grade on the final exam;
- Your work products (e.g., case study activities) and any other required or optional shared materials that you produce and authorize to share with them;
- Your evaluations -- course and self-assessments;
- A copy of your certificate of completion, with the co-sponsoring universities and other organizations listed.
To obtain a degree, NextGenU.org co-sponsors degree programs with institutional partners. To obtain a full degree co-sponsored with NextGenU.org, registrants must be enrolled in a degree program as a student of a NextGenU.org institutional partner. If you think your institution might be interested in offering a degree with NextGenU.org, contact us.
We hope you will find this a rewarding learning experience, and we count on your assessment and feedback to help us improve this training for future students.
Here are the next steps to take the course and earn a certificate.
- Complete the registration form.
- Take the pre-test.
- Begin the course with Module 1: Introduction to psychiatry: interviews, symptoms, classification of diseases, and common medication. In each lesson, read the description, complete all required readings and any required activity, as well as take the corresponding quizzes.
This course meets nationally approved standards of education developed for the addiction/substance use disorders counseling profession. This course's participants are assured that the continuing education (CE) credits provided will be accepted toward national credentialing by the NAADAC Certification Commission for Addiction Professionals (NCC AP), as well as by many of the individual state licensing/certification bodies in the addiction and other helping professions. -
Module 1: Introduction to Psychiatry: Interviews, Symptoms, Classification of Diseases, and Common Medication
Competencies covered in this module:
- Recognize symptoms of mental illness in conducting a psychiatric interview.
- Classify and diagnose mental disorders in adults, adolescents, and children.
- Utilize information on psychiatric drugs to effectively treat mental illnesses.
-
Module 1: Lesson 1: The Psychiatric Interview
Student Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to:- Describe psychiatric interviewing.
-
Describe the various phases of the psychiatric interview, including the elements of mental health examination, and additional investigative laboratory tests.
- Discuss how to apply various techniques of the psychiatric interview, including how to extract needed diagnostic information from difficult patients.
- Describe the role of empathy, active listening, and respect for privacy in the patient-physician relationship.
4 URLs - Describe psychiatric interviewing.
-
Module 1: Lesson 2: Symptoms and Signs of Psychiatric Illness
Student Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to:- Describe behavioral and emotional signs and symptoms of psychiatric illness.
-
Differentiate the levels of speech, thought, perception, and cognitive disturbances.
1 URL -
Module 1: Lesson 3: Classification in Psychiatry
Student Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to:- Explain DSM-V classification of classes or groups of conditions.
- Describe groups used to classify psychiatric conditions.
- Identify various rating scales to quantify aspects of a patient’s psyche, behavior, and relationships with individuals and society.
3 URLs -
Module 1: Lesson 4: Prescribing Psychiatric Medications
Student Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to:- Define the principles associated with prescribing psychiatric medications.
-
Discuss the risks and dangers of potentially inappropriate prescriptions to treat mental illnesses effectively.
- Describes the classification of psychiatric medications prescribed to treat common psychological and behavioral symptoms.
3 URLs, 1 Forum -
Module 2: Ethical Considerations
Competencies covered in this module:
- Understand ethical considerations relevant to treatment and management of mental health.
-
Module 2: Lesson 1: Ethics in Mental Health
Student Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to:- Define the principles of foundations of professional ethics.
-
Explain the principles for the protection of persons with mental illness and the improvement of mental health care.
- Describe the circumstances for emergency treatment without consent, assisted care and treatment, involuntary care, and treatment.
- Discuss the ethical implications of a breach of privacy and confidentiality in psychiatry.
3 URLs, 1 Forum, 1 Quiz -
Module 3: Mood Disorders
Competencies covered in this module:
- Classify and diagnose mood disorders in adults, adolescents, and children.
- Utilize information on psychiatric drugs to effectively treat mood disorders.
-
Module 3: Lesson 1: Depressive and Bipolar Disorders
Student Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to:- Describe mood disorders, bipolar disorders, and other forms of depressive illness.
- Describe major depression/other forms of depressive illness through differential diagnosis.
- Discuss the management and treatment of depressive and bipolar disorders.
4 URLs, 1 Forum, 1 Quiz -
Module 4: Anxiety Disorders, Conduct Disorders and Eating Disorders
Competencies covered in this module:
- Classify and diagnose anxiety disorders in adults, adolescents, and children.
- Utilize information on psychiatric drugs to effectively treat anxiety disorders.
- Classify and diagnose conduct disorders in adults and children.
- Classify and diagnose eating disorders in adults, adolescents, and children.
- Utilize information on psychiatric drugs to effectively treat eating disorders.
-
Module 4: Lesson 1: Anxiety Disorders, Obsessive Compulsive and Related Disorders, and Trauma-and Stressor-Related Disorders
Student Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to:- Describe anxiety disorders and its classification.
- Differentiate various types of anxiety disorders and other related disorders such as panic disorder, agoraphobia, social anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic STRESS disorder (PTSD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and substance abuse anxiety disorder.
- Discuss the management and treatment of anxiety disorders and other related disorders.
2 URLs -
Module 4: Lesson 2: Disruptive, Impulse-control, and Conduct Disorders
Student Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to:- Define disruptive, impulsive-control, and conduct disorders.
-
Differentiate the categories of disruptive, impulsive-control, and conduct disorders.
2 URLs -
Module 4: Lesson 3: Feeding and Eating Disorders
Student Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to:- Identify the characteristics of feeding and eating disorders.
- Discuss when and how to refer patients who are diagnosed with feeding/eating disorders to a specialist.
2 URLs, 1 Forum, 1 Quiz - Identify the characteristics of feeding and eating disorders.
-
Module 5: Somatic Symptom Disorders
Competencies covered in this module:
- Classify and diagnose somatic symptom disorders in adults, adolescents, and children.
- Utilize information on psychiatric drugs to effectively treat somatic symptom disorders.
-
Module 5: Lesson 1: Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders
Student Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to:- Describe somatic symptom disorder and other related disorders in terms of their clinical features.
-
Describe the diagnostic criteria for somatic symptom disorder.
- Discuss when and how to refer patients who are diagnosed with somatic disorders to a specialist.
4 URLs, 1 Forum, 1 Quiz -
Module 6: Psychotic Disorders and Personality Disorders
Competencies covered in this module:
- Classify and diagnose psychotic disorders in adults, adolescents, and children.
- Utilize information on psychiatric drugs to effectively treat psychotic disorders.
- Classify and diagnose personality disorders in adults, adolescents, and children.
- Utilize information on psychiatric drugs to effectively treat personality disorders.
-
Module 6: Lesson 1: Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders
Student Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to:- Describe schizophrenia as a mental health disorder and its diagnosis thereof.
- Discuss treatment and management of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders as well as admission care and treatment of assisted/ involuntary mental health users.
3 URLs -
Module 6: Lesson 2: Personality Disorders
Student Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to:- Identify classification of personality disorders.
- Describe clusters of personality disorders and its clinical presentation thereof.
- Discuss how personality disorders are managed and treated.
3 URLs - Identify classification of personality disorders.
-
Module 6: Lesson 3: Dissociative Disorders
Student Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to:- Describe dissociative disorders in terms of its clinical features.
-
Differentiate between various dissociative disorders.
- Discuss the management and treatment of dissociative disorders.
3 URLs, 1 Forum, 1 Quiz