A nurse is conducting an assessment of a patient with bipolar disorder. Which aspect of the patient's mental status should the nurse observe and document in relation to their mood state?
The patient's thought content and organization.
The patient's physical vital signs and laboratory tests.
The patient's cognitive abilities, memory, and concentration.
The patient's mood state, such as euphoric, irritable, depressed, or mixed.
The Correct Answer is D
Choice A rationale:
The patient's thought content and organization. Rationale: While monitoring thought content and organization is important in psychiatric assessment, it is not directly related to observing and documenting the patient's mood state. Thought content and organization involve assessing the coherence, relevance, and logic of the patient's thoughts, which can provide insights into their cognitive functioning and potential psychiatric conditions like schizophrenia.
Choice B rationale:
The patient's physical vital signs and laboratory tests. Rationale: This choice is unrelated to the assessment of the patient's mood state. Vital signs and laboratory tests are essential in medical assessments, but when evaluating a patient with bipolar disorder, the focus should be on their psychological and emotional state rather than physical parameters.
Choice C rationale:
The patient's cognitive abilities, memory, and concentration. Rationale: While cognitive abilities, memory, and concentration are important factors to consider in a comprehensive mental status assessment, they are distinct from the patient's mood state. Cognitive assessment provides information about cognitive impairments that might accompany mood disorders, but it does not directly reflect the patient's current emotional state.
Choice D rationale:
The patient's mood state, such as euphoric, irritable, depressed, or mixed. Rationale: This statement is correct. Assessing and documenting the patient's mood state is crucial when evaluating individuals with bipolar disorder. The mood state can provide valuable information about the phase of the disorder (e.g., manic, hypomanic, depressive) and guide treatment decisions. Mood variations are a hallmark of bipolar disorder, and accurately identifying the patient's mood at the time of assessment is essential for effective care.
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Naxlex Comprehensive Predictor Exams
Related Questions
Correct Answer is C
Explanation
Choice A rationale:
Increased sleep duration is not a characteristic of manic episodes in bipolar disorder. In fact, decreased need for sleep is a common symptom of manic episodes. Individuals experiencing a manic episode often report feeling restless and having a decreased need for sleep.
Choice B rationale:
Reduced goal-directed activity is not typical of manic episodes. During manic episodes, individuals often exhibit heightened goal-directed activity, excessive energy, and increased involvement in various activities. This can lead to a decreased ability to focus on one task at a time.
Choice C rationale:
Correct Choice In a manic episode, individuals may display a decreased need for social interaction. They might engage in excessive socializing, seek out new social interactions, and exhibit a heightened level of confidence in their ability to engage with others. This increased sociability can sometimes be characterized by rapid speech and impulsiveness in social situations.
Choice D rationale:
Feelings of sadness and hopelessness are not indicative of manic episodes. These emotions are more aligned with depressive episodes in bipolar disorder rather than manic ones. Manic episodes are characterized by elevated mood, increased energy, and a sense of euphoria or grandiosity.
Correct Answer is A
Explanation
Choice A rationale:
The correct answer is A, "The quality, intensity, range, and appropriateness of emotional expression." This choice reflects the comprehensive assessment of a patient's affect. The nurse should document aspects such as the quality (e.g., sad, angry, euphoric), intensity (e.g., blunted, intense), range (e.g., flat, labile), and appropriateness (e.g., congruent with the situation or not) of the patient's emotional expression.
Choice B rationale:
"Signs of flat, blunted, labile, or incongruent affect" are important to assess, but this choice is not as comprehensive as choice A. It focuses solely on specific features of affect without addressing the full spectrum of emotional expression.
Choice C rationale:
"The patient's thought content, such as themes, topics, and beliefs" is unrelated to assessing affect. Thought content pertains to the patient's cognitive processes and the content of their ideas, not their emotional expression.
Choice D rationale:
"Signs of flight of ideas, racing thoughts, tangentiality" pertain to thought processes, particularly in the context of assessing thought disorders like in bipolar disorder's manic phase. This is not directly related to the assessment of emotional expression.
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