Tips On Answering Psychiatric Questions

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Tomorrow I have my first test in Psych/Mental Health Nursing and I will admit I am a bit nervous. Everyone says that Psych. questions is difficult to answer and is very different than answering any other nursing class question for example, Med. Surg. Does anyone have any tips on how to approach these style questions and how to go about answering these. The chapters that are on my test tomorrow include Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders, Mental Health and Mental Illness, Legal and Ethical Guidelines, Settings/Culture, Nursing Process, and Psychotropic Drugs. I, along with my classmates, have no idea what to expect on our first test tomorrow. We have only had a lecture on one chapter. The rest of the information was up to us to learn. Can someone please offer some advice about Psych. and how to answer these types of questions. Any help is much appreciated!

Much love,

Meghan Beth :)

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

You probably already took your test, but I can give you a couple pointers.

You have to know the disorders very well and how to recognize someone with the disorders.

Study for the psych drugs the same way you studied for pharmacology.

The other information can be tricky, because it is "fluffy stuff." Study for that the way you study fundamentals. Read the chapters, answer questions, and know how to apply your knowledge to situations.

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Lev

Thanks for your reply! Actually I have not taken my test yet. It got rescheduled due to weather, which I am happy about because it gives me more time to study. Thanks for your tips! I have however not taken Pharmacology. I am in my second semester of nursing school and I have only completed Fundamentals. Do you have any websites that can help me with studying the psych. drugs? Any information would be helpful (YouTube Videos, Quizzes, Websites).

Thanks,

Meghan Archer

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Megan, don't use your real name and picture (if that's you). Someday you're going to post something you will wish on hindsight was anonymous, and then you're in the soup. You can change your avatar and username under your account settings. They will change on all your past posts, too.

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

The important thing with pharm is to know your drug categories, the mechanism of action, and possible side effects. Once you know this basic information you can infer nursing interventions and teaching. Pharm is largely memorization. Make some flash cards with the drugs. There are some books that have helpful mnemonics. You can also find some online.

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I am in psych rotation now, and I did well on the two exams we've had thus far. I prepared by reading the chapters, taking notes in lecture, rewriting my notes after lecture, and doing practice tests on ATI (mental health 2013 exams 1 and 2) and practice questions provided online by my textbook's publisher (use the code in the front of your textbook to access the student resources). For the drugs, I made flash cards. In terms of learning how to read the exam questions and tease out what the question is really asking, ATI questions with rationales were very helpful. Good luck!

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where do I get practice questions for LPN courses

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

OP: remember Maslow's heirarchy when you need to prioritize. Patient safety is always a biggie (assuming they have shelter and food). Therapeutic communication is a must. Never talk about yourself. Psych meds often have negative side effects and many have drug-drug interactions, like lithium and "salts". Those are the major points. Good luck and let us know how you did.

Handasikedir: When you need answers to another question, please post on a different thread.

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