Which assessment finding is most consistent with early alcohol withdrawal?
-
Solution
Heart rate of 120 to 140 beats/minute
Option A: Tachycardia, a heart rate of 120 to 140 beats/minute, is a common sign of alcohol withdrawal.
Options C and D: Blood pressure may be labile throughout withdrawal, fluctuating at different stages. Hypertension typically occurs in early withdrawal. Hypotension, although rare during the early withdrawal stages, may occur in later stages. Hypotension is associated with cardiovascular collapse and most commonly occurs in clients who don’t receive treatment. The nurse should monitor the client’s vital signs carefully throughout the entire alcohol withdrawal process.
A client begins to experience alcoholic hallucinosis. What is the best nursing intervention at this time?
-
Solution
Providing a quiet environment and administering medication as needed and prescribed
Option C: Manifestations of alcoholic hallucinosis are best treated by providing a quiet environment to reduce stimulation and administering prescribed central nervous system depressants in dosages that control symptoms without causing oversedation.
Options A and D: Although bed rest is indicated, restraints are unnecessary unless the client poses a danger to himself or others. Also, restraints may increase agitation and make the client feel trapped and helpless when hallucinating.
Option B: Offering juice is appropriate, but measuring blood pressure every 15 minutes would interrupt the client’s rest. To avoid over stimulating the client, the nurse should check blood pressure every 2 hours.
The nurse is assigned to care for a client with anorexia nervosa. Initially, which nursing intervention is most appropriate for this client?
-
Solution
Providing one-on-one supervision during meals and for 1 hour afterward
Option A: Because the client with anorexia nervosa may discard food or induce vomiting in the bathroom, the nurse should provide one-on-one supervision during meals and for 1 hour afterward.
Option B: This wouldn’t be therapeutic because other clients may urge the client to eat and give attention for not eating.
Option C: This would reinforce control issues, which are central to this client’s underlying psychological problem.
Option D: Instead of giving the client unlimited time to eat, the nurse should set limits and let the client know what is expected.
A client is being admitted to the substance abuse unit for alcohol detoxification. As part of the intake interview, the nurse asks him when he had his last alcoholic drink. He says that he had his last drink 6 hours before admission. Based on this response, the nurse should expect early withdrawal symptoms to:
-
Solution
begin anytime within the next 1 to 2 days.
Option C: Acute withdrawal symptoms from alcohol may begin 6 hours after the client has stopped drinking and peak 1 to 2 days later. Delirium tremens may occur 2 to 4 days — even up to 7 days — after the last drink.
A client recently admitted to the hospital with sharp, substernal chest pain suddenly complains of palpitations. The nurse notes a rise in the client’s arterial blood pressure and a heart rate of 144 beats/minute. On further questioning, the client admits to having used cocaine recently after previously denying use of the drug. The nurse concludes that the client is at high risk for which complication of cocaine use?
-
Solution
Coronary artery spasm
Option A: Cocaine use may cause such cardiac complications as coronary artery spasm, myocardial infarction, dilated cardiomyopathy, acute heart failure, endocarditis, and sudden death. Cocaine blocks reuptake of norepinephrine, epinephrine, and dopamine, causing an excess of these neurotransmitters at postsynaptic receptor sites.
Option B: Consequently, the drug is more likely to cause tachyarrhythmias than bradyarrhythmias.
Option C: Although neurobehavioral deficits are common in neonates born to cocaine users, they are rare in adults.
Option D: As craving for the drug increases, a person who’s addicted to cocaine typically experiences euphoria followed by depression, not panic disorder.
A client with borderline personality disorder is admitted to the psychiatric unit. Initial nursing assessment reveals that the client’s wrists are scratched from a recent suicide attempt. Based on this finding, the nurse should formulate a nursing diagnosis of:
-
Solution
Risk for violence: Self-directed related to impulsive mutilating acts.
Option C: The predominant behavioral characteristic of the client with borderline personality disorder is impulsiveness, especially of a physically self-destructive sort. The observation that the client has scratched wrists doesn’t substantiate the other options.
A client is brought to the psychiatric clinic by family members, who tell the admitting nurse that the client repeatedly drives while intoxicated despite their pleas to stop. During an interview with the nurse, which statement by the client most strongly supports a diagnosis of psychoactive substance abuse?
-
Solution
“I know I’ve been arrested three times for drinking and driving, but the police are just trying to hassle me.”
Option D: According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, diagnostic criteria for psychoactive substance abuse include a maladaptive pattern of such use, indicated either by continued use despite knowledge of having a persistent or recurrent social, occupational, psychological, or physical problem caused or exacerbated by substance abuse or recurrent use in dangerous situations (for example, while driving).
Options A, B, and C: For this client, psychoactive substance dependence must be ruled out; criteria for this disorder include a need for increasing amounts of the substance to achieve intoxication (option A), increased time and money spent on the substance (option B), inability to fulfill role obligations (option C), and typical withdrawal symptoms.
A client is admitted to a psychiatric facility by court order for evaluation for antisocial personality disorder. This client has a long history of initiating fights and abusing animals and recently was arrested for setting a neighbor’s dog on fire. When evaluating this client for the potential for violence, the nurse should assess for which behavioral clues?
-
Solution
A rigid posture, restlessness, and glaring
Option A: Behavioral clues that suggest the potential for violence include a rigid posture, restlessness, glaring, a change in usual behavior, clenched hands, overtly aggressive actions, physical withdrawal, noncompliance, overreaction, hostile threats, recent alcohol ingestion or drug use, talk of past violent acts, inability to express feelings, repetitive demands and complaints, argumentativeness, profanity, disorientation, inability to focus attention, hallucinations or delusions, paranoid ideas or suspicions, and somatic complaints.
Options B, C, and D: Violent clients rarely exhibit depression, silence, or hypervigilance.
A client experiencing alcohol withdrawal is upset about going through detoxification. Which of the following goals is a priority?
-
Solution
The client will work with the nurse to remain safe.
Option B: The priority goal in alcohol withdrawal is maintaining the client’s safety.
Options A, C, and D: Committing to a drug-free lifestyle, drinking plenty of fluids, and identifying personal strengths are important goals, but ensuring the client’s safety is the nurse’s top priority.
When monitoring a client recently admitted for treatment of cocaine addiction, the nurse notes sudden increases in the arterial blood pressure and heart rate. To correct these problems, the nurse expects the physician to prescribe:
-
Solution
nifedipine and esmolol
Option D: This client requires a vasodilator, such as nifedipine, to treat hypertension, and a beta-adrenergic blocker, such as esmolol, to reduce the heart rate.
Options A and B: Lidocaine, an antiarrhythmic, isn’t indicated because the client doesn’t have an arrhythmia.
Option C: Although nitroglycerin may be used to treat coronary vasospasm, it isn’t the drug of choice in hypertension.