Summary NR 601 Week 3 – Psychiatric Disorders and Screening Discussions (INITIAL RESPONSE)

Week 3 – Psychiatric Disorders and Screening Discussions (INITIAL RESPONSE) Research screening tools for depression and anxiety. Choose one screening tool for depression and one screening tool for anxiety that you feel are appropriate to screen KB. Explain why you chose that particular tool for KB. Score KB based on the information provided (not all data may be provided). Include what questions could be scored, and your chosen score. Assume that any question topics not mentioned are not a concern at this time. The screening tool chosen for depression is the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). It is estimated that 14% of patients in the primary care setting have depression; and it is frequently not diagnosed because of the lack of utilization of standardized screening tools (Hirschtritt & Kroenke, 2017). According to Hirschtritt and Kroenke (2017), when standardized screening tools are not utilized, primary care providers only recognize depression in an estimated 47% of patients. The PHQ-9 is a self-report questionnaire based on symptoms experienced over the past 2 weeks that comprises of 9 items, which are then added together to result a score ranging from 0 through 27 (Hirschtritt & Kroenke, 2017). According to Hirschtritt & Kroenke (2017), a total score ≥10 has an estimated specificity of 85.3% for major depressive disorder. There are several benefits to the PHQ-9 screening tool which include: self-report format, quick scoring and interpretation, available in multiple languages, and can be administered remotely such as in cases where telehealth is utilized (Hirschtritt & Kroenke, 2017). I chose the PHQ-9 screening tool for depression because it is geared towards the general adult population, and is frequently utilized in the primary care setting. I find this screening tool very effective and have used it many times thus far in my clinical rotations, as well as in the emergency department where I currently work.