Master of Science in Nursing   Practicum Experience Plan Overview: Your Practicum experience includes working in a clinical setting that will help you gain the knowledge and skills needed as an advanced practice nurse. In your practicum experience, you will develop a practicum plan that sets forth objectives to frame and guide your practicum experience. As part of your Practicum Experience Plan, you will not only plan for your learning in your practicum experience but also work through various patient visits with focused notes as well as one (1) journal entry. Complete each section below. Part 1: Quarter/Term/Year and Contact Information Section A Quarter/Term/Year: StudentContact Information Name: Street Address: City, State, Zip: Home Phone: Work Phone: Cell Phone: Fax: E-mail: PreceptorContact Information Name: Organization: Street Address: City, State, Zip: Work Phone: Cell Phone: Fax: Professional/Work E-mail: Part 2: Individualized Practicum Learning Objectives Refer to the instructions in Week 2 to create individualized practicum learning objectives that meet the requirements for this course. These objectives should be aligned specifically to your Practicum experience. Your objectives should address your self-assessment of the skills found in the “PMHNP Clinical Skills Self-Assessment Form” you completed in Week 1. As you develop your individualized practicum learning objective, be sure to write them using the SMART format. Use the resources found in Week 2 to guide your development. Once you review your resources, continue and complete the following. Note: Please make sure each of your objectives are connected to your self-assessment. Also, consider that you will need to demonstrate how you are advancing your knowledge in the clinical specialty. ** YOU MUST HAVE 3 NEW OBJECTIVES EACH QUARTER. You may include previous practicum objectives; however, you still must have 3 new objectives for your current course. Objective 1: <write your objective here> ( Note: this objective should relate to a specific skill you would like to improve from your self-assessment) Planned Activities: Mode of Assessment: (Note: Verification will be documented in Meditrek) PRAC Course Outcome(s) Addressed: · (for example) Develop professional plans in advanced nursing practice for the practicum experience · (for example) Assess advanced practice nursing skills for strengths and opportunities  Objective 2: <write your objective here> ( Note: this objective should relate to a specific skill you would like to improve from your self-assessment) Planned Activities: Mode of Assessment: (Note: Verification will be documented in Meditrek) PRAC Course Outcome(s) Addressed: · Objective 3: <write your objective here> ( Note: this objective should relate to a specific skill you would like to imp.

1. Master of Science in Nursing
Practicum Experience Plan
Overview:
Your Practicum experience includes working in a clinical
setting that will help you gain the knowledge and skills needed
as an advanced practice nurse. In your practicum experience,
you will develop a practicum plan that sets forth objectives to
frame and guide your practicum experience.
As part of your Practicum Experience Plan, you will not only
plan for your learning in your practicum experience but also
work through various patient visits with focused notes as well
as one (1) journal entry.
Complete each section below.
Part 1: Quarter/Term/Year and Contact Information
Section A
Quarter/Term/Year:
StudentContact Information
Name:
Street Address:
City, State, Zip:
Home Phone:
Work Phone:

2. Cell Phone:
Fax:
E-mail:
PreceptorContact Information
Name:
Organization:
Street Address:
City, State, Zip:
Work Phone:
Cell Phone:
Fax:
Professional/Work E-mail:
Part 2: Individualized Practicum Learning Objectives
Refer to the instructions in Week 2 to create individualized
practicum learning objectives that meet the requirements for
this course. These objectives should be aligned specifically to
your Practicum experience. Your objectives should address your
self-assessment of the skills found in the “PMHNP Clinical
Skills Self-Assessment Form” you completed in Week 1.
As you develop your individualized practicum learning
objective, be sure to write them using the SMART format. Use
the resources found in Week 2 to guide your development. Once
you review your resources, continue and complete the
following.
Note: Please make sure each of your objectives are
connected to your self-assessment. Also, consider that you will
need to demonstrate how you are advancing your knowledge in
the clinical specialty.

3. ** YOU MUST HAVE 3 NEW OBJECTIVES EACH
QUARTER. You may include previous practicum objectives;
however, you still must have 3 new objectives for your current
course.
Objective 1: <write your objective here> (
Note: this objective should relate to a specific skill you
would like to improve from your self-assessment)
Planned Activities:
Mode of Assessment: (Note: Verification will be documented in
Meditrek)
PRAC Course Outcome(s) Addressed:
· (for example) Develop professional plans in advanced nursing
practice for the practicum experience
· (for example) Assess advanced practice nursing skills for
strengths and opportunities
Objective 2: <write your objective here> (
Note: this objective should relate to a specific skill you
would like to improve from your self-assessment)
Planned Activities:
Mode of Assessment: (Note: Verification will be documented in
Meditrek)

4. PRAC Course Outcome(s) Addressed:
·
Objective 3: <write your objective here> (
Note: this objective should relate to a specific skill you
would like to improve from your self-assessment)
Planned Activities:
Mode of Assessment: (Note: Verification will be documented in
Meditrek)
PRAC Course Outcome(s) Addressed:
·
Part 3: Projected Timeline/Schedule
Estimate how many hours you expect to work on your Practicum
each week. *
Note: All of your hours and activities must be
supervised by your Preceptor and completed onsite. Your
Preceptor will approve all hours, but your activities will be
approved by both your Preceptor and Instructor. Any changes to
this plan must be approved.
This timeline is intended as a planning tool; your actual
schedule may differ from the projections you are making now.
I intend to complete the 144 or 160 Practicum hours (as
applicable) according to the following timeline/schedule. I also

5. understand that I must see at least 80 patients during my
practicum experience. I understand that I may not complete my
practicum hours sooner than 8 weeks. I understand I may not be
in the practicum setting longer than 8 hours per day unless pre-
approved by my faculty.
Number of Clinical Hours Projected for Week (hours you are in
Practicum Setting at your Field Site)
Number of Weekly Hours for Professional Development (these
are not practicum hour)
Number of Weekly Hours for Practicum Coursework (these are
not practicum hours)
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6

6. Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Total Hours (must meet the following requirements)
144 or 160 Hours
Part 4 - Signatures
Student Signature (electronic): Date:

7. Practicum Faculty Signature (electronic)**:
Date:
** Faculty signature signifies approval of Practicum Experience
Plan (PEP)
Submit your Practicum Experience Plan
on or before Day 7 of
Week 2 for faculty review and approval.
Once approved, you will receive a copy of the PEP for your
records. You must share an approved copy with your Preceptor.
The Preceptor is not required to sign this form.
© 2020 Walden University 3
PRACTICUM EXPERIENCE PLAN (PEP)
As you establish your goals and objectives for this course, you
are committing to an organized plan that will frame your
practicum experience in a clinical setting, including planned
activities, assessment, and achievement of defined outcomes. In
particular, they must address the categories of clinical
reasoning, quality in your clinical specialty, and interpersonal
collaborative practice.
For this Assignment, you will consider the areas you aim to
focus on to gain practical experience as an advanced practice
nurse. Then, you will develop a Practicum Experience Plan
(PEP) containing the objectives you will fulfill in order to

8. achieve your aims. For this practicum experience, be sure to
develop goals and objectives that allow you to synthesize
knowledge and skills related to assessment, diagnosis, and
treatment planning.
TO PREPARE
· Review your Clinical Skills Self-Assessment Form you
submitted last week and think about areas for which you would
like to gain application-level experience and/or continued
growth as an advanced practice nurse. How can your
experiences in the practicum help you achieve these aims?
· Review the information related to developing objectives
provided in this week’s Learning Resources. Your
practicum learning objectives that you want to achieve during
your practicum experience must be:
· Specific
· Measurable
· Attainable
· Results-focused
· Time-bound
· Reflective of the higher-order domains of Bloom’s taxonomy
(i.e., application level and above)
Note: Please make sure your objectives are individualized
and outlined in your Practicum Experience Plan (PEP). While
you may add previous objectives to continue to work toward.
You must have 3 new objectives for each class, each quarter.
· Discuss your professional aims and your
proposed practicum objectives with your Preceptor to ascertain
if the necessary resources are available at your practicum site.
· Create a timeline of practicum activities that demonstrates
how you plan to meet these goals and objectives based on your
practicum requirements.
THE ASSIGNMENT- INSTRUCTIONS
· Use the attached document (Practicum Experience Plan)to
complete this week assignment.

9. · Complete ONLY section # 2. - Part 2: Individualized
Practicum Learning Objectives
· After the objectives select one nursing theory and one
counseling/psychotherapy theory to best guide your clinical
practice. Explain why you selected these theories. Support your
approach with evidence-based literature. ( at least 3 references)
· The objectives should be aligned specifically to your
Practicum experience. Your objectives should address your self-
assessment of the skills found in the “PMHNP Clinical Skills
Self-Assessment Form” you completed in Week 1. (See
attached document - WK1Assgn2_Cordova Lopez_A)
2
Clinical Skills Self-Assessment
Ariel Cordova Lopez
Walden University
PRAC 6665/6675 - PMHNP Across Lifespan II
Dr. Nisha Kirk, AGPCNP-BC, PMHNP-BC
December 1, 2022
PRAC 6665/6675 Clinical Skills
Self-Assessment Form
Desired Clinical Skills for Students to Achieve
Confident (Can complete independently)
Mostly confident (Can complete with supervision)

10. Beginning (Have performed with supervision or needs
supervision to feel confident)
New (Have never performed or does not apply)
Comprehensive psychiatric evaluation skills in:
Recognizing clinical signs and symptoms of psychiatric
illness across the lifespan
Confident
Differentiating between pathophysiological and
psychopathological conditions
Mostly confident
Performing and interpreting a comprehensive and/or interval
history and physical examination (including laboratory and
diagnostic studies)
Mostly confident
Performing and interpreting a mental status examination
Mostly
Confident
Performing and interpreting a psychosocial assessment and
family psychiatric history
Mostly Confident

11. Performing and interpreting a functional assessment (activities
of daily living, occupational, social, leisure, educational).
Mostly confident
Diagnostic reasoning skill in:
Developing and prioritizing a differential diagnoses list
Mostly
confident
Formulating diagnoses according to DSM 5-TR based on
assessment data
Mostly
confident
Differentiating between normal/abnormal age-related
physiological and psychological symptoms/changes
Mostly
confident
Pharmacotherapeutic skills in:
Selecting appropriate evidence-based clinical practice
guidelines for medication plan (e.g., risk/benefit, patient
preference, developmental considerations, financial, the process
of informed consent, symptom management)
Mostly
confident

12. Evaluating patient response and modify plan as necessary
Mostly Confident
Documenting (e.g., adverse reaction, the patient response,
changes to the plan of care)
Mostly confident
Psychotherapeutic Treatment Planning:
Recognizes concepts of therapeutic modalities across the
lifespan
Confident
Selecting appropriate evidence-based clinical practice
guidelines for psychotherapeutic plan (e.g., risk/benefit, patient
preference, developmental considerations, financial, the process
of informed consent, symptom management, modality
appropriate for situation)
Confident
Applies age-appropriate psychotherapeutic counseling
techniques with individuals and/or any caregivers
Mostly
confident

13. Develop an age-appropriate individualized plan of care
Mostly
confident
Provide psychoeducation to individuals and/or any caregivers
Mostly confident
Promote health and disease prevention techniques
Mostly confident
Self-assessment skill:
Develop SMART goals for practicum experiences
Mostly confident
Evaluating outcomes of practicum goals and modify plan as
necessary
Mostly confident
Documenting and reflecting on learning experiences
Mostly confident
Professional skills:
Maintains professional boundaries and therapeutic relationship
with clients and staff

14. Confident
Collaborate with multi-disciplinary teams to improve clinical
practice in mental health settings
Confident
Identifies ethical and legal dilemmas with possible resolutions
Confident
Demonstrates non-judgmental practice approach and empathy
Confident
Practices within scope of practice
Confident
Selecting and implementing appropriate screening
instrument(s), interpreting results, and making
recommendations and referrals:
Demonstrates selecting the correct screening instrument
appropriate for the clinical situation
Mostly
confident

15. Implements the screening instrument efficiently and effectively
with the clients
Mostly
confident
Interprets results for screening instruments accurately
Mostly
confident
Develops an appropriate plan of care based upon screening
instruments response
Mostly
confident
Identifies the need to refer to another specialty provider when
applicable
Mostly confident
Accurately documents recommendations for psychiatric
consultations when applicable
Mostly confident

16. Summary of strengths:
My greatest strength in my everyday interactions with patients
is providing patient-centered care. I can gather pertinent
historical data and conduct a thorough physical and mental state
exam because of my patient-centered approach. I know patients'
empathic interviewing approaches because of my culturally
competent communication skills. In order to treat patients with
respect and dignity, a nurse practitioner must practice patient-
centered care (Park et al., 2018). Another asset is my ability to
provide my customers with individualized and supportive care. I
learned over time how to communicate with patients while
keeping a cheerful attitude to prevent upsetting them. I can do a
thorough evaluation of patients using empathic interviewing
techniques to determine the condition they are experiencing. I
use them daily in hospital wards and community health clinics
to maintain these abilities. The patient's presentation can vary
depending on the patient's age and cultural background. I find
that identifying and suggesting the potential use of psychotropic
medicines is another crucial ability to have. I typically adopt a
friendly approach when speaking with my patients because it is
crucial to get historical data from many sources. I can discuss
typical anomalies and their causes since I fully comprehend
each part of the mental status examination (Norris et al., 2016).
The communication concept has helped me behave
professionally, become more sympathetic while receiving
criticism, and learn from my mistakes. Another noteworthy
strength is my ability to document clinical facts, diagnoses, and
clinical reasoning. It's possible that laboratory results won't
always be available, so I utilize my communication skills to get
information from the patient and other professionals. In
particular, the early detection of psychopathology symptoms has
benefited greatly from my multifaceted skill sets.
Opportunities for growth:
I need to improve my interviewing skills for difficult scenarios
like dealing with aggressive, perhaps violent, and mentally

17. deficient patients. The diagnosis of mental and behavioral
diseases is fraught with difficulties. I need to develop a deeper
understanding and more vital evaluation abilities because most
psychological and pathophysiological diseases are difficult to
identify because they necessitate significant knowledge. Since it
has taken precedence, I must concentrate on the differential
diagnosis of psychopathology. Separating pathophysiology from
psychopathology, two broad domains that call for deeper
comprehension is another area that may be better. The mental
diagnosis procedure is drawn out since it starts with a physical
examination of the patient.
After that, a psychological evaluation is conducted to exclude
differential diagnoses and reach a precise psychosocial
diagnosis. I have provided care for patients with behavioral
problems for many years, and I have seen that diagnosing and
treating psychopathology requires in-depth understanding and
evaluation abilities. Since psychopathological illnesses are
difficult to diagnose, most diagnostic tests are ineffective. To
strengthen these areas, I need to increase my understanding of
psychopathological disorders (Blomberg et al., 2016). During
the clinical rotations, I must use each chance to put the new
information into practice. Performing and interpreting mental
status exams is another area where I may be held accountable. I
need to start engaging in rigorous clinical training sessions to
increase my proficiency in interpreting mental status exams. I
can also increase my expertise in clinical sites through ongoing
practice and professional growth. As a PMHNP, the newly
gained abilities will promote the delivery of patient-centered,
evidence-based care.
Now, write three to four (3–4) possible goals and objectives for
this practicum experience. Ensure that they follow the SMART
Strategy, as described in the Learning Resources.
1.
Goal: Include understanding of differential
diagnosis and clinical reasoning.

18. a.
Objective: Identify the warning signs and
symptoms of any psychopathological condition.
b.
Objective: comprehend fundamental test
results and other professional reports
c.
Objective: Create a differential diagnosis for
some patients with mental problems.
2.
Goal: Improve my ability to assess mental
state by the end of the session
a.
Objective: Observe patients and do
comprehensive cognitive evaluations
b.
Objective: Recognize and distinguish clinical
signs to formulate precise recommendations
c.
Objective: Conduct mental health
examinations and correctly evaluate the results
3.
Goal: Be able to develop a mental health
diagnosis on my own at the end of the practicum
a.
Objective: Show how to use cutting-edge

19. methods realistically when conducting assessments.
b.
Objective: Utilize the patient's concerns and
the physical examination results to determine the various
psychiatric diagnoses
.
c.
Objective: Use medical testing from
laboratories and other sources to evaluate patients
Signature: Ariel Cordova Lopez
Date: December 1, 2022
Course/Section:
PRAC-6675-37/PRAC-6675C-37/PRAC-6675F-37 -
PMHNP Across Lifespan II Pract-Winter 2022
References
Blomberg, K., Griffiths, P., Wengström, Y., May, C., &

20. Bridges, J. (2016). Interventions for compassionate nursing
care: A systematic review.
International journal of nursing studies,
62, 137-155.
Park, M., Lee, M., Jeong, H., Jeong, M., & Go, Y. (2018).
Patient-and family-centered care interventions for improving
the quality of health care: A review of systematic reviews.
International journal of nursing studies,
87, 69-83.
Norris, D. R., Clark, M. S., & Shipley, S. (2016). The mental
status examination.
American family physician,
94(8), 635-641.