2025 PSYCHIATRIC ASSESSMENT FOR THE PSYCHIATRIC-
MENTAL HEALTH NURSE PRACTITIONER REVIEW CORRECT
VERIED ANSWERS GRADED A+
An APRN works in a urology clinic under the supervision of a physician who does not restrict the
types of medications the APRN is allowed to prescribe. State law does not require the APRN to
practice under physician supervision. How would the APRN's prescriptive authority be described?
a. Full authority
b. Independent
c. Without limitation
d. Limited authority - ANSWER-b. Independent
A post-operative patient who is worried about pain control will be discharged several days after
surgery. The nurse providing discharge teaching tells the patient that the prescribed Lortab is not as
strong as the morphine the patient was given in the immediate post-operative period. Which
response is the patient likely to experience?
a. A decreased likelihood of filling the prescription for the drug
b. A negative placebo effect when taking the medication
c. An increased compliance with the drug regimen
d. Optimistic, realistic expectations about the drug - ANSWER-b.
A patient has been taking narcotic analgesics for chronic pain for several months. The nurse caring
for this patient notes that the prescribed dose is higher than the recommended dose. The patient
has normal vital signs, is awake and alert, and reports mild pain. What does the nurse recognize
about this patient?
a. This patient exhibits a negative placebo effect with a reduced response to the drug.
b. This patient has developed a reaction known as tachyphylaxis because of repeated exposure
to the drug.
c. This patient has developed pharmacodynamic tolerance, which has increased the minimal
effective concentration (MEC) needed for analgesic effect.
d. This patient produces higher than normal hepatic enzymes as a result of prolonged
,exposure to the drug. - ANSWER-c.
A patient asks a nurse why a friend who is taking the same drug responds differently to that drug.
The nurse knows that the most common variation in drug response is due to differences in each
patient's:
a. drug receptor sites.
b. hypersensitivity potential.
c. metabolism of drugs.
d. psychosocial response. - ANSWER-c.
The nurse is assessing a newly admitted older patient who has recently lost 15 pounds. The nurse
notes that the patient is taking warfarin (Coumadin). Which laboratory tests will the nurse discuss
with this patient's provider?
a. Blood glucose and C-reactive protein
b. Complete blood count and hepatic function tests
c. Renal function tests and serum electrolytes
d. Serum albumin and coagulation studies - ANSWER-d.
A nurse is preparing to care for a patient who is receiving digoxin. When screening for potential
adverse effects from this drug, the nurse will review which of this patient's laboratory results?
a. Albumin
b. Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine
c. Hepatic enzymes
d. Serum electrolytes - ANSWER-d.
A nurse administers the same medication in the same preparation in the same dose to several
patients and notes that some patients have a better response to the drug than others. What is the
most likely explanation for this phenomenon?
a. Altered bioavailability of the drug
b. Patient compliance with the therapeutic regimen
c. Pharmacogenomic differences among individuals
d. Placebo effects enhancing expectations of drug efficacy - ANSWER-c.
,A nurse is teaching a group of women about medications. The women want to know why so many
drugs have unpredictable effects in women. The nurse will tell them that:
a. drugs usually have more toxic effects in women.
b. most known drug effects are based on drug trials in men.
c. women have varying responses to drugs during menstrual cycles.
d. women metabolize drugs more slowly. - ANSWER-b.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends genetic testing of patients receiving
certain medications. Genetic testing helps prescribers:
a. better establish a drug's therapeutic index.
b. determine whether a patient is a rapid or slow metabolizer of the drug.
c. identify racial characteristics that affect psychosocial variation in drug response.
d. produce a drug that is tailored to an individual patient's genetic makeup. - ANSWER-b.
Drugs do not metabolize the same way in all people. For what patient would a nurse expect to assess
for an alteration in drug metabolism?
a. A 35-year-old woman with cervical cancer
b. A 41-year-old man with kidney stones
c. A 50-year-old man with cirrhosis of the liver
d. A 62-year-old woman in acute renal failure - ANSWER-c.
A patient presents to the emergency department with a drug level of 50 units/mL. The half-life of this
drug is 1 hour. With this drug, concentrations above 25 units/mL are considered toxic and no more
drug is given. How long will it take for the blood level to reach the non-toxic range?
a. 30 minutes
b. 1 hour
c. 2 hours
d. 3 hours - ANSWER-b.
A patient has recently moved from Vermont to Southern Florida. The patient presents to the clinic
complaining of dizzy spells and weakness. While conducting the admission assessment, the patient
tells the nurse that he have been on the same antihypertensive drug for 6 years and had stable blood
pressures and no adverse effects. Since his move, he has been having problems and he feels that the
, drug is no longer effective. The clinic nurse knows that one possible reason for the change in the
effectiveness of the drug could be what?
a. The impact of the placebo effect on the patients response.
b. The accumulative effect of the drug if it has been taken for many years.
c. The impact of the warmer environment on the patients physical status.
d. Problems with patient compliance with the drug regimen while on vacation. - ANSWER-c.
An important concept taught by the nurse when providing medication teaching is the need to
provide a complete list of medications taken to health care
providers to avoid what?
a. Spending large amounts of money on medications
b. Allergic reactions to medications
c. Drugdrug interactions
d. Critical concentrations of medications in the body - ANSWER-c.
A pharmacology student asks the instructor what an accurate description of a drug agonist is. What is
the instructors best response?
a. A drug that reacts with a receptor site on a cell preventing a reaction with another chemical on a
different receptor site
b. A drug that interferes with the enzyme systems that act as catalyst for different chemical reactions
c. A drug that interacts directly with receptor sites to cause the same activity that a natural chemical
would cause at that site
d. A drug that reacts with receptor sites to block normal stimulation, producing no effect -
ANSWER-c.
A nurse is caring for a patient who has been receiving a drug by the intramuscular route but will
receive the drug orally after discharge. How does the nurse explain the increased dosage prescribed
for the oral dose?
a. Passive diffusion
b. Active transport
c. Glomerular filtration
d. First-pass effect - ANSWER-d.