Exam 21: Variables Affecting the Therapeutic Environment: Violence and Suicide

A patient has entered the escalation phase of the assault cycle. What is the most appropriate nursing intervention in order to manage the situation?

Staff members take an aggressive patient to seclusion. Before leaving the patient in the room, what priority action should be implemented?

A depressed patient admitted following a suicide attempt by overdose of sedatives states, "I don't feel like signing your papers. My partner should have let me die." What level of suicide precautions should the nurse apply?

An experienced staff nurse describes feeling emotionally burdened and yet engages actively in gossip and spreading rumors about other staff members. The clinical nurse leader can assess these behaviors as consistent with what condition?

Which emotion experienced by a patient should be assessed by the nurse as most predictive of an increased suicide risk?

A nurse who has worked on an acute psychiatric unit for 5 years has begun describing patients in insensitive ways and is less creative when dealing with patient problems. What is the most likely explanation for the nurse's behavior?

A patient whose behavior has continued to escalate despite nursing interventions begins to kick and strike out at the nurse. What is the priority nursing intervention?

A patient with suicidal impulses is placed on suicide precautions. Which measures will the nurse incorporate into the plan of care? (Select all that apply.)

A patient is shouting loudly and is verbally aggressive. What analysis should the nurse make about this behavior?

A tearful patient at the mental health center says, "I should be dead." What is the most important first task for the nurse in assessing this patient?

The nurse in charge of a crisis team determines that a patient who has lost control requires restraint. What is the most important factor in the safe and effective use of physical restraint?

A psychiatric nurse is demonstrating characteristics of burnout. What effect would be expected on patients under this nurse's care?

Which expression of suicidality is most acute in nature?

Which management practice should the clinical nurse leader of a psychiatric unit implement to enhance the therapeutic environment?

A novice nurse on an inpatient psychiatric unit says to a colleague, "My newest patient has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. At least I won't have to monitor for a suicide risk." Select the colleague's most accurate response.