A community mental health nurse has worked for 6 months to ...

[captainjonesify]

A community mental health nurse has worked for 6 months to establish a relationship with a delusional, suspicious patient. The patient recently lost employment and stopped taking medications because of inadequate money.
 
  The patient says, Only a traitor would make me go to the hospital. Which solution is best?
 
  a. Arrange a bed in a local homeless shelter with nightly onsite supervision.
  b. Negotiate a way to provide medication so the patient can remain at home.
  c. Hospitalize the patient until the symptoms have stabilized.
  d. Seek inpatient hospitalization for up to 1 week.

Question 2

Which assessment finding for a patient in the community requires priority intervention by the nurse? The patient:
 
  a. receives Social Security disability income plus a small check from a trust fund.
  b. lives in an apartment with two patients who attend day hospital programs.
  c. has a sibling who is interested and active in care planning.
  d. purchases and uses marijuana on a frequent basis.

[sarah_brady415]

Answer to Question 1

ANS: B
Hospitalization may damage the nurse-patient relationship even if it provides an opportunity for rapid stabilization. If medication can be obtained and restarted, the patient can possibly be stabilized in the home setting, even if it takes a little longer. A homeless shelter is inappropriate and unnecessary. Hospitalization may be necessary later, but a less restrictive solution should be tried first because the patient is not dangerous.

Answer to Question 2

ANS: D
Patients who regularly buy illegal substances often become medication noncompliant. Medication noncompliance, along with the disorganizing influence of illegal drugs on cellular brain function, promotes relapse. The remaining options do not suggest problems.

[captainjonesify]

Correct answers!

[sarah_brady415]

Great! Please up vote