Pop Quiz

[Seriiene]

Can anyone shed more light to these questions. We went over them in class but I still do not agree with the answers.

1. When assessing a client for indication that suicide might be a possibility, which of the following would pose the most risk?

A. Suicide ideation

B. Suicide threat

C. Suicide gesture

D. Suicide plan

2. A client with paranoid schizophrenia believes their medication is tainted with poison and refuses to take them. Which action should the nurse take? (Select all that apply)

A. Matter-of-factly reinforce the need to take the medication

B. Ask the client what the medication is tainted with

C. Open all the medication packaging in front of the client

D. Ask the client why they think the medication is tainted

E. Withhold the medication and try again later

Answers:1. C, 2. A,C

[203bravo, MSN, APRN]

I would be curious as to what the rationals presented were and why you do not agree.

Someone that has already taken some action of self harm - even if they do not intend to kill them self by definition of Suicide gesture - is most likely to self harm again in the future and actually take it to the next level if they did not receive the attention that they were seeking. Next most at risk on the list would be someone who actually has a plan.

For a paranoid schizophrenia - do not feed into their paranoia, such as asking "why they think the meds are contaminated.. as well agreeing to not give their meds at this time would reinforce their paranoia that something is indeed wrong with their meds. Simply state the fact that they need to take their meds and opening them in front of the pt would help to assure them that they are no tampered with.

[Seriiene]

Alright, for no 1, I wanted to say suicide plan since a gesture could be gesturing a gun to the head which people could do when they are stressed... I do not think "gesture" should be the right word... it should be "attempt." Simply gesturing could mean slashing the neck (with hands) or, again, putting a gun (make shift, using hands) to the head..

for no.2, I want to put: to ask why they think the meds are contaminated since you would be able to find out what they didn't like about it, they could simply say... "well those are a different color than what I used to take" or "you handed them to me all in one cup, you mixed them all up" kind of thing.

so my initial answers are:

1. D

2. A, C, D