Nursing Bullets for NLE Reviewees

• The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory consists of 550 statements for the subject to interpret. It assesses personality and detects disorders, such as depression and schizophrenia, in adolescents and adults.
• Organic brain syndrome is the most common form of mental illness in elderly patients.
• A person who has an IQ of less than 20 is profoundly retarded and is considered a total-care patient.
• Reframing is a therapeutic technique that’s used to help depressed patients to view a situation in alternative ways.
• Fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft), and paroxetine (Paxil) are serotonin reuptake inhibitors used to treat depression.
• The early stage of Alzheimer’s disease lasts 2 to 4 years. Patients have inappropriate affect, transient paranoia, disorientation to time, memory loss, careless dressing, and impaired judgment.
• The middle stage of Alzheimer’s disease lasts 4 to 7 years and is marked by profound personality changes, loss of independence, disorientation, confusion, inability to recognize family members, and nocturnal restlessness.
• The last stage of Alzheimer’s disease occurs during the final year of life and is characterized by a blank facial expression, seizures, loss of appetite, emaciation, irritability, and total dependence.
• Threatening a patient with an injection for failing to take an oral drug is an example of assault.
• Reexamination of life goals is a major developmental task during middle adulthood.
• Acute alcohol withdrawal causes anorexia, insomnia, headache, and restlessness and escalates to a syndrome that’s characterized by agitation, disorientation, vivid hallucinations, and tremors of the hands, feet, legs, and tongue.
• In a hospitalized alcoholic, alcohol withdrawal delirium most commonly occurs 3 to 4 days after admission.
• Confrontation is a communication technique in which the nurse points out discrepancies between the patient’s words and his nonverbal behaviors.
• For a patient with substance-induced delirium, the time of drug ingestion can help to determine whether the drug can be evacuated from the body.
• Treatment for alcohol withdrawal may include administration of I.V. glucose for hypoglycemia, I.V. fluid containing thiamine and other B vitamins, and antianxiety, antidiarrheal, anticonvulsant, and antiemetic drugs.
• The alcoholic patient receives thiamine to help prevent peripheral neuropathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome.
• Alcohol withdrawal may precipitate seizure activity because alcohol lowers the seizure threshold in some people.
• Paraphrasing is an active listening technique in which the nurse restates what the patient has just said.
• A patient with Korsakoff’s syndrome may use confabulation (made up information) to cover memory lapses or periods of amnesia.
• People with obsessive-compulsive disorder realize that their behavior is unreasonable, but are powerless to control it.
• When witnessing psychiatric patients who are engaged in a threatening confrontation, the nurse should first separate the two individuals.
• Patients with anorexia nervosa or bulimia must be observed during meals and for some time afterward to ensure that they don’t purge what they have eaten.
• Transsexuals believe that they were born the wrong gender and may seek hormonal or surgical treatment to change their gender.
• Fugue is a dissociative state in which a person leaves his familiar surroundings, assumes a new identity, and has amnesia about his previous identity. (It’s also described as “flight from himself.”)
• In a psychiatric setting, the patient should be able to predict the nurse’s behavior and expect consistent positive attitudes and approaches.
• When establishing a schedule for a one-to-one interaction with a patient, the nurse should state how long the conversation will last and then adhere to the time limit.
• Thought broadcasting is a type of delusion in which the person believes that his thoughts are being broadcast for the world to hear.
• Lithium should be taken with food. A patient who is taking lithium shouldn’t restrict his sodium intake.
• A patient who is taking lithium should stop taking the drug and call his physician if he experiences vomiting, drowsiness, or muscle weakness.

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