Practice Question
A client with bipolar disorder is experiencing mania and has been very active and displaying high energy levels. Which of the following interventions should the nurse prioritize while caring for this client?
Answer Choices:
Correct Answer:
Provide frequent rest periods throughout the day.
Rationale:
💫 Clients in a manic episode often experience hyperactivity, decreased need for sleep, and excessive energy, leading to exhaustion if not managed.
💫 Providing frequent rest periods helps prevent physical depletion, reduces the risk of injury, and supports physiological stability.
💫 Rest breaks also help moderate stimulation, allowing the nervous system short intervals of recovery.
💫 This intervention balances the client’s activity level with essential rest, which is a core safety and self-care goal in mania.
💫 As such, prioritizing structured rest is a key nursing action to protect the client’s health and safety.
Encourage the client to participate in group activities to expend their energy.
💫 Although it may seem helpful to “burn off” energy, group activities can increase stimulation, distractibility, and behavioral escalation in mania.
💫 Excessive social interaction may worsen impulsivity and poor judgment, increasing the risk of conflicts or unsafe behavior.
💫 During acute mania, the goal is low-stimulation, structured activity, not maximal social engagement.
💫 This option fails to prioritize rest and safety and instead risks intensifying manic symptoms.
💫 Therefore, this intervention is incorrect in the context of an acutely manic client.
Allow the client to engage in continuous physical activities to tire them out.
💫 Allowing continuous activity without limits can rapidly lead to exhaustion, dehydration, and physical injury because manic clients often ignore fatigue.
💫 This strategy treats the client’s energy like normal hyperactivity, rather than recognizing it as a pathologic state requiring careful management.
💫 The nurse must set limits and schedule rest, not permit unrestrained activity.
💫 Continuous activity also increases cardiovascular strain and may exacerbate agitation.
💫 Therefore, this option is unsafe and incorrect because it neglects the need for planned rest periods.
Limit the client's physical activity to reduce hyperactivity.
💫 Completely restricting physical activity may cause frustration, agitation, and increased resistance in a manic client.
💫 Clients in mania often need simple, structured, non-competitive activities to channel energy in a controlled way.
💫 Total limitation ignores the need to safely direct activity rather than fully prohibit it.
💫 The priority is to ensure a balance: allow some activity but integrate frequent rest to protect from exhaustion.
💫 Thus, this answer does not capture the balanced approach required and is less appropriate than providing frequent rest periods.
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This question is from LPN Mental Health NSG 2320 Exam which contains 45 questions.
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Question Details
- Category: LPN Nursing Exam(s)
- Subcategory: 💎Examplify-PN
- Domain: 🤦🏼♀️ Mental Health-PN
- Answer Choices: 4