1. Right Answer: B
Explanation: (A) There are no indications that the clients thoughts reflect special powers or talents characteristic of grandiosity. (B) The clients thought content is fixed, false, persecutory, and suspicious in nature, which is characteristic of paranoid delusions. (C, D) The client is not demonstrating a sensory experience.
2. Right Answer: C
Explanation: (A) Although the client is having command hallucinations, this is second in priority to real or potential violence, which can be a threat to life itself. (B) Although the client is experiencing delusions, this is also a lower priority than his potential or actual loss of control. (C) Whether real or potential, violence directed at self or others is always high priority. (D) There is no evidence of loosening of associations.
3. Right Answer: A
Explanation: (A) This response validates the clients experience and presents reality to him. (B) This nontherapeutic response minimizes and dismisses the clients verbalized experience. (C) This response can be interpreted by a paranoid client as a threat, thereby increasing the clients potential for violence and loss of control. (D) This response is also threatening. The clients behavior does not call for restraints because he has not lost control or hurt anyone. If seclusion or restraints were indicated, the nurse should never confront the client alone.
4. Right Answer: D
Explanation: (A) If the client could think logically, he would not be paranoid. In fact, he is probably suspicious of the staff, too. Newly admitted clients frequently experience high levels of anxiety, which can contribute to delusions. (B) The goal of pharmacological intervention is to calm the client and assist with reality-based thinking, not to sedate him. (C) Haloperidol is a neuroleptic and antipsychotic drug, not a minor tranquilizer. (D) Haloperidol is a high-potency neuroleptic and first-line choice for rapid neuroleptization, with low potential for sedation.
5. Right Answer: B
Explanation: (A) Stiff neck is consistent with a dystonic reaction, but the client has no symptoms of drooling, shuffling gait, or pill-rolling movements characteristic of parkinsonism. (B) Stiff neck is consistent with a dystonic reaction, and inability to sit still with varying degrees of psychomotor agitation is characteristic of akathisia. (C) The client has symptoms of dystonia but not of parkinsonism. (D) The client has none of the characteristic symptoms of neuroleptic malignant syndrome: hyperpyrexia, generalized muscle rigidity, mutism, obtundation, agitation, sweating, increased blood pressure and pulse.
Leave a comment