Making the Challenging Clinical Decision

Course Outline

This one-day interprofessional course is suitable for mental health professionals involved in the care of patients across inpatient and community mental health settings. The course can accommodate a range of clinicians involved in making clinical treatment decisions and performing risk assessments of acutely unwell patients. This includes: psychiatric consultants, trainee doctors, care co-ordinators, psychiatric liaison nurses, inpatient ward nurses, home treatment team staff and community mental health team workers.

This course aims to create better understanding of the decision making process around risk assessment and a better understanding of the individual biases and systemic factors influencing clinical decisions made.

Using simulated scenarios, the course addresses the decision-making process around admission and community treatment. During the debriefs, participants will discuss the factors influencing this process and be asked to apply these reflections to their everyday clinical practice.

Learning objectives

After completing this course those attending will be able to:

• demonstrate improved confidence, knowledge and skills in the decision-making process, particularly around risk and deciding whether to admit or discharge patients.
• better understand individual and systemic biases that may affect clinical treatment decisions.
• demonstrate improved communication and collaborative decision-making within the multi-disciplinary team.
• recognise and better manage the challenges that arise when making decisions regarding admissions.