Mental Health Nursing

Essential Competencies (DECs) & Secretaries Commission of Achieving Necessary Skills 

Differentiated (SCANS) will be aligned throughout the syllabus.  Essential Competencies of Graduates of Texas Vocational Nursing Educational programs and SCANS competencies can be accessed from Texas Board of Nursing.   SCANS information can be obtained from the document Identifying and Describing The Skills Required by Work published by The Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Work Skills.  

I. Member of the Profession 

1. Function within the nurse’s legal scope of practice and in accordance with regulation and the policies and procedures of the employing health care institution or practice setting.
2. Assume responsibility and accountability for the quality of nursing care provided to patients and their families.
3. Contribute to activities that promote the development and practice of vocational nursing. 
4. Demonstrate responsibility for continued competence in nursing practice, and develop insight through reflection, self-analysis, self-care, and lifelong learning. 
5. Provider of Patient-Centered Care 
   1. Use clinical reasoning and knowledge based on the vocational nursing program of study and established evidence-based practice as the basis for decision-making in nursing practice.
   2. Assist in determining the physical and mental health status, needs, and preferences influenced by culture, spirituality, ethnicity, identity, and social diversity of patients and their families, and in interpreting health-related data based on knowledge derived from the vocational nursing program of study. 
   3. Report data to assist in the identification of problems and formulation of goals/outcomes and patient-centered plans of care in collaboration with patients, their families, and the interdisciplinary health care team.
   4. Provide safe, compassionate, basic nursing care to assigned patients with predictable health care needs through a supervised, directed scope of practice.
   5. Implement aspects of the plan of care within legal, ethical, and regulatory parameters and in consideration of patient factors. 
   6. Identify and report alterations in patient responses to therapeutic interventions in comparison to expected outcomes. 
   7. Implement teaching plans for patients and their families with common health problems and well-defined health learning needs. 
   8. Assist in the coordination of human, information, and physical resources in providing care for assigned patients and their families.
6. Patient Safety Advocate 
   1. Demonstrate knowledge of the Texas Nursing Practice Act and the Texas Board of Nursing Rules that emphasize safety, as well as all federal, state, and local government and accreditation organization safety requirements and standards. 
   2. Implement measures to promote quality and a safe environment for patients, self, and others. 
   3. Assist in the formulation of goals and outcomes to reduce patient risks. 
   4. Obtain instruction, supervision, or training as needed when implementing nursing procedures or practices.
   5. Comply with mandatory reporting requirements of the Texas Nursing Practice Act. 
   6. Accept and make assignments that take into consideration patient safety and organizational policy. 
7. Member of the Health Care Team
   1. Communicate and collaborate in a timely manner with patients, their families, and the interdisciplinary health care team to assist in the planning, delivery, and coordination of patient-centered care to assigned patients. 
   2. Participate as an advocate in activities that focus on improving the health care of patients and their families. 
   3. Participate in the identification of patient needs for referral to resources that facilitate continuity of care, and ensure confidentiality.
   4. Communicate patient data using technology to support decision-making to improve patient care. 
   5. Assign nursing activities to LVNs or unlicensed personnel based upon an analysis of patient or work place need. 
   6. Supervise nursing care by others for whom the nurse is responsible.
   7. Assist health care teams during local or global health emergencies or pandemics to promote health and safety, and prevent disease.