Question

A nurse is caring for a client who has a severe anxiety disorder and is in a state of panic in the dayroom. Which of the following actions should the nurse take?

Answer 1

Correct Answers:

Speak to the client in a calm voice.

Rationale :

🔷 In the panic level of anxiety, the client has markedly decreased ability to process information and needs external support to regain control.

🔷 Speaking in a calm, simple, confident voice provides emotional containment and reduces escalating fear.

🔷 A calm presence helps lower sympathetic arousal and guides the client back toward safer breathing and thinking.

🔷 The nurse should use short statements and remain with the client, focusing on safety and grounding.

🔷 This action is the most therapeutic first step because it stabilizes the client and sets up further interventions once panic decreases.

Leave the client alone to regain control.

🔷In panic, the client may be unable to self-soothe and is at higher risk for unsafe behavior.

🔷Leaving them alone removes the needed support and safety monitoring.

Encourage the client to express her feelings.

🔷During panic, the client cannot engage in deeper discussion because thinking is disorganized and overwhelmed.

🔷Emotional processing is more appropriate after the panic subsides.

Place the client in restraints.

🔷Restraints are a last resort and require imminent danger to self/others.

🔷Using them prematurely can increase fear, trauma, and agitation.

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Answer 2

Correct Answers:

Impaired judgment

Rationale :

💎 Dementia is a progressive cognitive disorder characterized by decline in memory plus other cognitive domains.

💎 Impaired judgment is common because executive functioning declines, affecting decision-making and safety awareness.

💎 Clients may make unsafe choices (e.g., poor financial decisions, wandering) due to reduced reasoning ability.

💎 Level of consciousness is usually stable in dementia, unlike delirium.

💎 Recognizing impaired judgment supports planning for supervision, safety, and structured routines.

Altered level of consciousness.

💎This is more characteristic of delirium, not dementia.

💎Dementia typically has a clear level of consciousness until late stages.

Rapid change in personality.

💎Dementia usually develops gradually, not suddenly.

💎Rapid personality shifts suggest delirium, intoxication, or acute neurologic issues.

Disturbances in perception.

💎Hallucinations can occur in some dementias, but they are not the classic “expected” finding compared with judgment and memory decline.

💎Prominent perceptual disturbance is more typical of delirium or psychosis.

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Answer 3

Correct Answers:

Native American

Rationale :

🌟 Native American (American Indian/Alaska Native) populations have the highest suicide rates among U.S. racial/ethnic groups in recent CDC reporting.

🌟 CDC surveillance highlights that suicide disproportionately affects AI/AN communities, making them a priority group for prevention-focused funding language.

🌟 Including AI/AN populations in the grant correctly aligns with national data and supports targeting interventions where risk is greatest.

🌟 Grant narratives often connect these disparities to barriers such as limited access to care, geographic challenges, and broader social determinants that increase vulnerability.

🌟 This framing strengthens the proposal by demonstrating data-driven prioritization and equity-focused prevention planning.

African American

🌟Suicide risk exists across all populations, but CDC data show AI/AN groups have higher overall rates than Black/African American populations.

Japanese American:

🌟CDC reporting typically summarizes rates using broader race/ethnicity categories; this option is not identified as the highest-risk group compared with AI/AN in national surveillance summaries.

South American:

🌟This is not a standard U.S. race/ethnicity surveillance category used in most CDC suicide rate summaries.

🌟Grant language should match recognized U.S. reporting categories for accuracy and credibility.

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Answer 4

Correct Answers:

"The stress from my new job could be the cause of my depressed mood."

Rationale :

💎 Psychological stressors (e.g., a new job, major life changes, role strain) can trigger depressed mood by increasing stress hormones and disrupting coping.

💎 Ongoing stress can reduce sleep quality, appetite regulation, and overall emotional resilience, which commonly presents as low mood.

💎 Recognizing a situational trigger helps the client identify modifiable factors and seek early support (coping skills, counseling, lifestyle adjustments).

💎 This statement reflects insight that mood symptoms may be linked to life events, not only “medical problems.”

💎 Identifying stress as a contributor supports appropriate planning for stress-management strategies and monitoring symptoms for persistence/worsening.

“My high blood pressure could be the cause of my depressed mood.”

💎 Hypertension itself is not typically a direct cause of depressed mood.

💎 While chronic illness can affect emotions, this statement misses the more common link between stress/life events and mood changes.

“My renal dysfunction could be the cause of my depressed mood.”

💎 Chronic kidney disease can be associated with mood changes, but this item is testing recognition of situational stress as a common cause of depressed mood.

💎 The best “understanding” response is the one that correctly identifies a frequent, immediate trigger discussed in teaching.

“My elevated heart rate could be the cause of my depressed mood.”

💎 An elevated heart rate is more often associated with anxiety, pain, fever, or stimulant use than as a primary cause of depressed mood.

💎 This answer confuses a possible physiologic sign with a typical etiologic factor for depression.

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Answer 5

Correct Answers:

Norepinephrine

Rationale :

🎯 Norepinephrine supports alertness, attention, and concentration, so dysregulation can contribute to poor focus and cognitive slowing.

🎯 It also plays a key role in sleep–wake regulation, and imbalance can present as sleep disturbance.

🎯 Reduced norepinephrine activity is commonly linked with low energy, impaired concentration, and memory difficulties.

🎯 These manifestations reflect decreased arousal and cortical activation, which are norepinephrine-mediated functions.

🎯 Identifying norepinephrine guides understanding of why symptoms like poor concentration and sleep disruption occur in mood/anxiety conditions.

Serotonin

🎯 Serotonin is strongly associated with mood regulation and can influence sleep, but it is less directly tied to alertness and concentration than norepinephrine.

🎯 This option does not best match the combined pattern of poor attention/concentration plus arousal-related symptoms.

Histamine

🎯 Histamine supports wakefulness, but it is not the primary neurotransmitter emphasized for concentration and memory deficits in mental health teaching.

🎯 This choice is more commonly discussed in relation to sedation effects of antihistamines rather than core dysregulation syndromes.

Dopamine

🎯 Dopamine is closely linked to reward, motivation, and movement, and can affect cognition, but it is not the best match for this cluster.

🎯 The key teaching link for sleep dysregulation + poor concentration aligns more strongly with norepinephrine.

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Answer 6

Correct Answers:

“I don't want to think or talk about what happened with anyone."

Rationale :

🔷 Avoidance symptoms involve efforts to avoid distressing memories, thoughts, feelings, or conversations about the traumatic event.

🔷 Refusing to talk or think about the accident shows active avoidance of trauma-related reminders.

🔷 Avoidance is a core feature of trauma responses and may temporarily reduce distress while worsening long-term coping.

🔷 This statement reflects an attempt to control anxiety by shutting down processing of the event.

🔷 Recognizing avoidance helps the nurse plan supportive interventions that encourage safe expression and appropriate referral.

“I am just so sad. I cannot believe that my partner is gone."

🔷 This reflects grief and sadness, which are emotional responses rather than avoidance behaviors.

🔷 The client is expressing feelings, not avoiding the topic.

"If I wasn't such a bad person, this never would have happened."

🔷 This reflects self-blame/guilt, a negative cognition that may occur after trauma.

🔷 It does not demonstrate avoidance of memories or reminders.

“I just cannot remember anything about the accident"

🔷 This suggests dissociation or memory gaps related to trauma.

🔷 It is not a deliberate pattern of avoiding reminders or discussion.

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Answer 7

Correct Answers:

Every 11 min

Rationale :

🔶 National surveillance data show that in the U.S., a suicide death occurs about every 11 minutes.

🔶 This statistic highlights suicide as a major public health concern requiring prevention at multiple levels.

🔶 Including frequency helps audiences grasp the scope and urgency of prevention initiatives.

🔶 It also supports teaching on early recognition of warning signs and rapid linkage to crisis resources.

🔶 Using current public health figures strengthens credibility and accuracy in a suicide-prevention presentation.

Every 20 minutes

🔶 This understates the current reported frequency and can minimize the perceived urgency of prevention.

🔶 Accurate teaching should reflect the most current national statistic used in public health messaging.

Every 2 hr

🔶 This is far too infrequent compared with national surveillance summaries.

🔶 Presenting this number would misrepresent the scale of suicide deaths.

Every hour

🔶 This still underestimates the frequency reported by public health sources.

🔶 Prevention education should use accurate, up-to-date prevalence figures.

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Answer 8

Correct Answers:

Promoting connectedness

Rationale :

🌟 A peer-suicide support group primarily builds connection, shared coping, and belonging.

🌟 Promoting connectedness reduces isolation and buffers grief reactions by strengthening supportive relationships.

🌟 Group support creates a safe space to process emotions, normalize reactions, and encourage help-seeking.

🌟 This intervention is protective because social support is a key factor that lowers ongoing distress and suicide risk.

🌟 The nurse is directly facilitating student-to-student and student-to-adult linkage, which matches connectedness strategies.

Strengthening economic supports

🌟 Economic supports target financial stressors (housing, income, employment stability), not immediate peer grief support.

🌟 A school-based support group is not primarily an economic intervention.

Strengthening access to suicide care

🌟 Access-to-care includes screening pathways, referral systems, crisis response, and treatment availability.

🌟 While important, a support group is most directly categorized as building social connection.

Creating protective environments

🌟 Protective environments focus on safer physical/community settings and policies that reduce risk exposures.

🌟 The described action is a relationship-based intervention rather than an environmental redesign.

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Answer 9

Correct Answers:

A client who had multiple adverse childhood experiences and whose parents both have a history of anxiety disorder.

Rationale :

🔴 Risk is highest when genetic vulnerability (both parents with anxiety disorder) combines with significant early-life adversity (multiple ACEs).

🔴 ACEs increase long-term stress reactivity and can dysregulate the HPA axis, raising anxiety vulnerability.

🔴 A strong family history indicates inherited and learned patterns that increase the likelihood of anxiety disorders.

🔴 Multiple ACEs also reduce protective coping resources and increase sensitivity to triggers later in life.

🔴 This option has the greatest “stacking” of well-established risk factors: family history + childhood trauma exposure.

A client who has a family history of cancer and is recently unemployed.

🔴 Unemployment is stressful, but it is not as predictive as a direct family history of anxiety plus multiple ACEs.

🔴 Family cancer history is not a primary risk factor for anxiety-related disorders in the way psychiatric family history is.

A client who did not graduate from high school or complete their GED.

🔴 Lower education may correlate with stress exposure, but it does not outweigh combined genetic + ACE risk.

🔴 This factor alone is less specific and less predictive for anxiety disorders.

A client who has a family history of anxiety disorders and several positive childhood experiences (PCEs).

🔴 Positive childhood experiences are protective and can reduce the impact of genetic vulnerability.

🔴 Compared with multiple ACEs, several PCEs suggest stronger resilience and support.

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Answer 10

Correct Answers:

"Listen attentively to a client and summarize their comments"

Rationale :

🟢 Therapeutic communication relies on active listening, reflection, and clarification to ensure understanding.

🟢 Summarizing helps the nurse verify meaning, organize information, and show the client they are being heard.

🟢 This technique encourages deeper expression and builds trust and rapport, key elements of a therapeutic relationship.

🟢 Listening and summarizing also reduce miscommunication and support accurate assessment of emotions and needs.

🟢 This strategy is client-centered and promotes collaboration while maintaining professional boundaries.

“Allow the client's family to attend all group therapies with the client.”

🟢 Family participation may be helpful in select situations, but “all group therapies” is not universally appropriate and can reduce client privacy.

🟢 Therapeutic relationships prioritize client autonomy, confidentiality, and clinically indicated involvement.

“Avoid asking clients direct questions regarding suicidal behaviors or thoughts.”

🟢 Direct assessment of suicidal thoughts is essential for safety and does not “plant” the idea.

🟢 Avoiding direct questions can delay risk identification and timely intervention.

“Asking questions easily answered with one-word responses is important with mental health clients.”

🟢 Closed-ended questions can limit expression and reduce therapeutic exploration.

🟢 Mental health interviewing often benefits from open-ended prompts that invite elaboration.

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QLexNursing

1 :
A nurse is caring for a client who has a severe anxiety disorder and is in a state of panic in the dayroom. Which of the following actions should the nurse take?

2 :
A nurse is caring for a client who has dementia. Which of the following findings should the nurse expect?

3 :
A public health nurse is applying for a grant related to suicide prevention. When describing social groups at highest risk, which of the following should the nurse include?

4 :
A nurse is educating a client about possible causes of their depressed mood. Which of the following client statements indicates an understanding of the teaching?

5 :
A nurse is caring for a client who has sleep dysregulation, poor memory, and poor concentration. Which of the following neurotransmitters should the nurse identify as being responsible for the client's manifestations?

6 :
A nurse is caring for a client who is recovering from a femur fracture sustained in a motor-vehicle crash. Their partner died in the collision. Which of the following client statements would indicate that the client is experiencing avoidance symptoms?

7 :
A nurse is creating a presentation about suicide prevention. When providing information about the prevalence of suicide, the nurse should include that a death occurs how often in the United States?

8 :
A school nurse is creating a support group for students following the suicide of one of their peers. Which of the following interventions is the nurse providing?

9 :
A nurse is providing information to a client about risk factors for developing an anxiety-related disorder. Which of the following clients is at greatest risk for developing an anxiety-related disorder?

10 :
A nurse is discussing strategies to develop nurse-client therapeutic relationships with a newly licensed nurse. Which statement by the nurse accurately describes strategies for building a therapeutic relationship?

QLexNursing

1 : A nurse is caring for a client who has a severe anxiety disorder and is in a state of panic in the dayroom. Which of the following actions should the nurse take?

2 : A nurse is caring for a client who has dementia. Which of the following findings should the nurse expect?

3 : A public health nurse is applying for a grant related to suicide prevention. When describing social groups at highest risk, which of the following should the nurse include?

4 : A nurse is educating a client about possible causes of their depressed mood. Which of the following client statements indicates an understanding of the teaching?

5 : A nurse is caring for a client who has sleep dysregulation, poor memory, and poor concentration. Which of the following neurotransmitters should the nurse identify as being responsible for the client's manifestations?

6 : A nurse is caring for a client who is recovering from a femur fracture sustained in a motor-vehicle crash. Their partner died in the collision. Which of the following client statements would indicate that the client is experiencing avoidance symptoms?

7 : A nurse is creating a presentation about suicide prevention. When providing information about the prevalence of suicide, the nurse should include that a death occurs how often in the United States?

8 : A school nurse is creating a support group for students following the suicide of one of their peers. Which of the following interventions is the nurse providing?

9 : A nurse is providing information to a client about risk factors for developing an anxiety-related disorder. Which of the following clients is at greatest risk for developing an anxiety-related disorder?

10 : A nurse is discussing strategies to develop nurse-client therapeutic relationships with a newly licensed nurse. Which statement by the nurse accurately describes strategies for building a therapeutic relationship?

1 :
A nurse is caring for a client who has a severe anxiety disorder and is in a state of panic in the dayroom. Which of the following actions should the nurse take?

2 :
A nurse is caring for a client who has dementia. Which of the following findings should the nurse expect?

3 :
A public health nurse is applying for a grant related to suicide prevention. When describing social groups at highest risk, which of the following should the nurse include?

4 :
A nurse is educating a client about possible causes of their depressed mood. Which of the following client statements indicates an understanding of the teaching?

5 :
A nurse is caring for a client who has sleep dysregulation, poor memory, and poor concentration. Which of the following neurotransmitters should the nurse identify as being responsible for the client's manifestations?

6 :
A nurse is caring for a client who is recovering from a femur fracture sustained in a motor-vehicle crash. Their partner died in the collision. Which of the following client statements would indicate that the client is experiencing avoidance symptoms?

7 :
A nurse is creating a presentation about suicide prevention. When providing information about the prevalence of suicide, the nurse should include that a death occurs how often in the United States?

8 :
A school nurse is creating a support group for students following the suicide of one of their peers. Which of the following interventions is the nurse providing?

9 :
A nurse is providing information to a client about risk factors for developing an anxiety-related disorder. Which of the following clients is at greatest risk for developing an anxiety-related disorder?

10 :
A nurse is discussing strategies to develop nurse-client therapeutic relationships with a newly licensed nurse. Which statement by the nurse accurately describes strategies for building a therapeutic relationship?