A nurse is assisting with teaching a class about the roles and responsibilities of a case manager. Which of the following responsibilities should the nurse include?

Choice A reason: This statement is incorrect because psychiatric history is not the most urgent assessment to make for a client who reports feeling depressed and anxious. Psychiatric history can provide valuable information about the client's diagnosis, treatment, and response, but it is not a priority over the client's safety and wellbeing.
Choice B reason: This statement is correct because suicide risk is the most urgent assessment to make for a client who reports feeling depressed and anxious. Suicide risk can indicate the client's level of hopelessness, despair, and intent to harm themselves. The nurse should assess the client's suicidal thoughts, plans, means, and access, and implement appropriate interventions to prevent self harm or suicide.
Choice C reason: This statement is incorrect because support systems are not the most urgent assessment to make for a client who reports feeling depressed and anxious. Support systems can provide emotional, social, and practical assistance to the client, but they are not a priority over the client's safety and wellbeing.
Choice D reason: This statement is incorrect because coping abilities are not the most urgent assessment to make for a client who reports feeling depressed and anxious. Coping abilities can reflect the client's strategies and skills to manage their stress and emotions, but they are not a priority over the client's safety and wellbeing.

Choice A reason: Providing competencies for the nurses to achieve before licensure is not a description of standards of practice, but rather a function of the nursing education and accreditation system. Standards of practice are authoritative statements that define the expected level of performance for nurses after they obtain their license.

Choice B reason: Establishing a protocol for care to provide for a specific health problem is not a description of standards of practice, but rather a function of the clinical practice guidelines and evidence based practice. Standards of practice are broader and more general statements that apply to all nurses regardless of their specialty or setting.

Choice C reason: Specifying that nurses provide care that reflects current and competent level of behavior when providing client care is a description of standards of practice, as it captures the essence of what standards of practice are and why they are important. Standards of practice are based on the best available evidence and professional consensus, and they guide nurses in delivering safe, quality, and ethical care to their clients.

Choice D reason: Listing a set of skills that all nurses should be competent in performing, outlining responsibilities that every nurse is expected to provide regardless of their role is not a description of standards of practice, but rather a function of the scope of practice. Scope of practice describes the services that a qualified health professional is deemed competent to perform, and permitted to undertake, in keeping with the terms of their professional license..