Author Question: A nurse is working with a 17-year-old girl with bulimia nervosa. What experience in the nurse's own ... (Read 95 times)

tichca · **on:** Jul 19, 2018

A nurse is working with a 17-year-old girl with bulimia nervosa. What experience in the nurse's own life could interfere most with nurse's objectivity?

1. The nurse has a poor body image.
2. The nurse has a friend who was bulimic.
3. The nurse was bulimic as an adolescent.
4. The nurse has never had any personal experience of bulimia.

Question 2

A nurse is meeting with a 14-year-old girl who reveals that she frequently engages in cutting. Which thought of the nurse's would be most therapeutic?

1. She must be depressed.
2. She needs an immediate medication evaluation.
3. This is typical behavior adolescent behavior and not really a big problem.
4. I must make sure she is safe and then I think we will need to work on this patient developing new coping skills.

nhea · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 19, 2018

Answer to Question 1

Answer: 3
Explanation: The nurse must be careful to understand and mediate his or her own experiences as a child and as an adult; direct experience with a disorder such as bulimia can have a significant impact on the nurse's objectivity. A poor personal body image is important to acknowledge when treating someone with bulimia, but its impact is not as significant as having suffered from the disorder. Although knowing someone with bulimia can provide additional information about the condition, it is not likely to have a powerful impact on objectivity. Personal experience with a disorder is not a prerequisite to professional treatment of the problem.

Answer to Question 2

Answer: 4
Explanation: Regardless of the trigger, nursing care of the self-injurious child or adolescent is to ensure safety first, and then to help the patient develop new skills for problem solving and managing difficult emotions and interpersonal conflicts. Adolescents who self-injure differ from those with depression. Medication is not necessarily indicated in self-injury. Adolescents who self-injure may evidence delinquent behavior, PTSD symptoms, substance and tobacco use, greater degrees of hopelessness, higher impulsivity, and suicidal ideation.