Collaboration is a key part of social work practice. Most MSW professionals engage in these processes during the postgraduate practice years that each state requires before their licensing moves from supervised to independent status. Even beyond those requirements, peer consultation and collaboration are key aspects of most social work practice settings.

For this Assignment, your Instructor has paired you with a consultation colleague. Imagine that you and your colleague are working with the client featured in the case study your Instructor assigned. Your task is to provide a diagnosis and present your findings in the Week 7 Discussion.

Your diagnosis can come from any part of the DSM-5, so frequent communication and research with your colleague may be needed. Your colleague is there to help you think out, consult on, challenge, research, and polish your process before you record and post your own final analysis of this case in Week 7.

The collaboration that begins in this Assignment is intended to provide a safe venue for developing your differential diagnosis and case discussion skills with your colleague. This week you meet with your assigned partner at least once via Collaborate Ultra and begin considering the assigned case. In this Assignment, you describe that meeting and any initial analysis of the case.

To prepare: Using the case study provided to you by your instructor. Consult the Case Collaboration Meeting Guidelines document found in the Learning Resources. Read ahead to the Week 7 Discussion instructions so that you can plan and reflect accordingly. Note: In the Week 7 Discussion, you make your final findings presentation as an individual, not with your partner. By Day 7

Submit a 1- to 2-page paper in which you describe your team meeting. In your write-up, make sure to address the following: Describe the quality of your working relationship with your colleague. Critically reflect on strengths of collaborative relationship and areas for improvement. Describe your case in 100–150 words. Identify the red flags in your case study to be further evaluated. Outline your and your partner’s plan for further research and consultation, identifying specific tasks that you are each doing in this regard. Identify days/times you have agreed to meet together, including the date planned to complete the CFI interview required for the Week 5 Assignment.

  Required Readings First, M. B. (2014). Handbook of differential diagnosis. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association Note: You will access this e-book from the Walden Library databases.
Chapter 1, “Differential Diagnosis Step by Step” (pp. 14–24) Morrison, J. (2014). Diagnosis made easier (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Part 1, “The Basics of Diagnosis” (pp. 3–56) American Psychiatric Association. (2013j). Neurodevelopmental disorders. In Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: Author. doi:10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596.dsm01 American Psychiatric Association. (2013l). Other conditions that may be a focus of clinical attention. In Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: Author. doi:10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596.VandZcodes Walsh, J. (2016). The utility of the DSM-5 Z-codes for clinical social work diagnosis. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 26(2), 149–153. doi:10.1080/10911359.2015.1052913 Blackboard. (2018). Collaborate Ultra help for moderators. Retrieved from https://help.blackboard.com/Collaborate/Ultra/Moderator

Note: Beginning this week, you use a feature in your online classroom called Collaborate Ultra. Your Instructor will assign you a partner and then give you moderator access to a Collaborate Ultra meeting room. This link provides an overview and help features for use in the moderator role. Document: Case Collaboration Meeting Guidelines (Word document)

Note: Download these guidelines and consult the Assignment instructions. You are encouraged to orient yourself to these instructions and take action as early in the week as possible. Document: How to Write a Diagnosis According to the DSM-5 (PDF) Required Media Laureate Education (Producer). (2018f). Steps in differential diagnosis [Video files]. Baltimore, MD: Author Retrieved from https://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/2dett4d/Walden/SOCW/6090/04/DD/index.html. Optional Resources American Psychiatric Association. (2013b). Assessment measures. In Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: Author. doi:10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596.AssessmentMeasures Coker, T. R., Elliott, M. N., Toomey, S. L., Schwebel, D. C., Cuccaro, P., Emery, S. T., … Schuster, M. A. (2017). Racial and ethnic disparities in ADHD diagnosis and treatment. Pediatrics, 138(3), 1–11. Retrieved from http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/138/3/e20160407 Document: Suggested Further Reading for SOCW 6090 (PDF)

Note: This is the same document introduced in Week 1. Optional Media University at Buffalo School of Social Work (Producer). (2017). Episode 221—Dr. Jennifer Cullen and Dr. Jolynn Haney: Understanding and treating autism in women: Using lived experiences to shape practice [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.insocialwork.org/episode.asp?ep=221

Case Collaboration Meeting Guidelines

1. Schedule a meeting with your colleague. Be sure to leave enough time to both meet and complete the Assignment, which is due on Day 7 of Week 7. 

2. Before meeting with your colleague for this week, complete the following preparations:

a. Select a case study from the choices in the online classroom.

b. Consult the Assignment instructions in your online classroom.

c. Read ahead to the Week 7 Discussion instructions so that you can plan and reflect accordingly.
 

Note: In Week 7, you make your final findings presentation as an individual, not with your partner.

d. Summarize, highlight, or select in any way the key data from your case study that you will discuss and refine with your colleague. 

e. Group related items (e.g., medical and psychiatric history, social history, current symptoms of the present illness). 

3. Meet with your colleague in Collaborate Ultra and discuss the following: 

a. Is there a chief complaint in the case? If so, what is it? 

b. Are there any medical or substance problems that could account for symptoms? What are they? What factors should you consider when ruling these problems in or out? 

c. Identify four possible mental disorders with the strongest relevance to your case. What spectra are they are on? What other issues (if any) in the case might need further research? 

d. Make a plan for further researching your four diagnostic possibilities and any related issues. You are expected to use peer-reviewed journals in the Walden Library.

4. Schedule a follow-up meeting for next week to discuss research. 

 How to Write a Diagnosis According to the DSM-5 An Aid for MSW Students As you write a diagnosis, keep in mind that “[there] are specific recording protocols for these diagnostic codes…to insure consistent, international recording” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013, p. 23). Writing a Diagnosis A diagnosis is written as a simple list in order of priority to the current treatment needs. F33.1 Major depressive disorder, moderate, recurrent, with seasonal pattern F41.1 Generalized anxiety disorder Z60.3 Acculturation difficulty Each diagnosis needs an ICD code that is written before the name of the diagnosis. The older (DSM-IV-TR) names of some disorders can sometimes be found after the current name. However, to avoid confusion, only use the current name for the illness in a diagnosis. ICD Codes The DSM-5 includes codes for the International Classification of Diseases. Both ICD-9 and ICD-10 are included in the DSM-5. Always ignore the ICD-9 codes and use only the ICD-10-CM codes in diagnosis. The ICD-10-CM codes are listed inside the parentheses in the screen shot below. HOW TO CODE For mental health conditions, codes always start with a letter (usually F), followed by 2– 6 digits. A code is not valid unless it has been coded to the full number of digits required. A code with only the first three digits is used only if that condition is not further subdivided within the DSM-5. For example, for schizophrenia, there are no additional characters in spaces 4, 5, 6, and 7. F20.9 Schizophrenia In other cases, numbers must be added in the 4th, 5th, or 6th spaces to individualize a condition. Spaces 4–6 provide greater detail of causes, location details, and severity. For example, here are two codes for mania: F30.10 Manic episode without psychotic symptoms, unspecified F30.11 Manic episode without psychotic symptoms, mild Many disorders have more than one ICD code when there are common, clearly identified subtypes to the illness. The diagnostic criteria box always tells you if a code must be subdivided. If you do not see a code at the top of the diagnostic criteria box, look for the correct codes at the bottom of the box. Often the box prompts for further individualization by saying “Specify if” or “Specify whether.” You may also be asked to set a severity level. The wording “specify whether” tells you that the subtypes that follow are mutually exclusive. For example, here are two subtypes for schizoaffective disorder: F25.0 Schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type F25.1 Schizoaffective disorder, depressive type