Deck 17: Psychological Assessment

Question 1

An older person is demonstrating a significant change in personality. What should the nurse suspect is occurring with this patient?
1) Pick's disease
2) Parkinson's disease
3) Alzheimer's disease
4) Cardiovascular disease

Answer 1

1

Question 2

During an annual assessment an older patient has decreases in memory recall and orientation. What might cause this type of change in mental status?
1) Dementia
2) Normal aging
3) Severe depression
4) Elevated blood pressure

Answer 2

1

Question 3

The nurse overhears nursing assistants talk about how an older newly admitted patient is mean and argues with everyone who comes into the room. What should the nurse suspect is occurring with this patient?
1) Depression
2) Poor oxygenation
3) Body fluid imbalance
4) Inadequate nutritional intake

Answer 3

1

Question 4

Family members sit with an older patient and listen while he tells about a period of time when he was in the Army and lived with extended family in another state. What should the nurse identify as a characteristic of this patient's memories?
1) They are fiction.
2) They are based on facts.
3) They are evidence of cognitive decline.
4) They are based on the patient's belief system.

Question 5

An older patient who lives alone has dried feces on his legs and under his fingernails. Additional observations include oily hair, unkempt beard, and a weight loss of 15 pounds over the last 2 months. For what is this patient at risk?
1) Diabetes
2) Tuberculosis
3) Adult day care
4) Nursing home placement

Question 6

When administering the Mini-Cog mental status examination, the older patient refuses to draw the face of a clock. How should the nurse score this finding?
1) Delirium
2) Confusion
3) Correct response
4) Abnormal response

Question 7

The nurse is preparing to complete a psychological assessment with an older patient. Which should the nurse recall as the purpose of this assessment? Select all that apply.
1) Care planning
2) Determining placement in a facility
3) Identifying strengths and potentials.
4) Determining the cost of nursing care
5) Pointing out the need for psychiatric evaluation

Question 8

The nurse notes that an older community member who has been sad since the death of her spouse has experienced pneumonia and exacerbation of heart failure over the last 3 months. What should the nurse suspect is occurring with this patient?
1) Depression is causing the illnesses.
2) The patient's home needs a thorough cleaning.
3) The patient is not taking medications as prescribed.
4) Family members are ignoring the patient's feelings.

Question 9

The nurse is concerned that an older patient is becoming disoriented. What information caused the nurse to have this concern?
1) Patient cannot find reading glasses
2) Patient identifies the year as being 1945
3) Patient is expecting family to visit later in the day
4) Patient thinks the dining hall is where the recreation room is located

Question 10

An older patient who is recovering from a spinal cord injury refuses to participate in any facility activities and refuses to leave the room when family visits. The occupational therapist is having difficulty getting the patient to participate in feeding and other upper extremity activities. What might be the cause of this type of behavior?
1) Delirium
2) Depression
3) Relocation trauma
4) Undiagnosed head injury

Question 11

The nurse suspects that an older patient is depressed. What should the nurse expect to be most affected when completing a mental status examination with this patient?
1) Memory
2) Thinking
3) Judgment
4) Calculation

Question 12

The nurse is preparing to conduct a short test of mental functioning with an older person. Which aspect of this test may be omitted?
1) Memory
2) Thinking
3) Perception
4) Orientation

Question 13

An older patient's mental functioning is lower than the score of a mental status examination indicates. What should this information suggest to the nurse?
1) The patient has dementia.
2) The patient has a mental illness.
3) The examination needs to be repeated.
4) The examination was performed incorrectly.

Question 14

An older patient being treated for depression recalls certain life events differently than what the family states occurred. What should the nurse identify as being the reason for the discrepancy between the patient's memory and the family's statements?
1) The patient is confused.
2) The patient's memories are biased.
3) The family is misunderstanding the events.
4) The family wants the patient to stay institutionalized.

Question 15

An older patient is demonstrating signs of dementia. What should the nurse plan for this patient?
1) Reassess mental status frequently.
2) Transfer to a facility that specializes in dementia.
3) Reassess using a different mental status examination tool.
4) Schedule a conference to share the findings with the family.