NUR 221 Final Exam Questions And
Answers With Verified Solutions Rated A
+ Newly Updated 2025
1. Counseling interventions for a patient experiencing mild anxiety.
Patient's statement: T states that before taking an examination he feels a
heightened sense of awareness and a sense of restlessness.
Most suitable nursing intervention:
ANSWER✔✔: Explain his symptoms as resulting from mild anxiety and discuss
the helpful aspects of mild anxiety.
Rationale: This helps the patient understand that mild anxiety can be beneficial
(enhancing alertness and focus), promoting safety, comfort, and reassurance. It
also fosters therapeutic communication, manages anxiety, and provides education
to the patient and their family.
2. Nursing diagnosis for patients with panic-level anxiety.
ANSWER✔✔: Risk for injury/safety
Rationale: Panic-level anxiety can cause intense physical symptoms and loss of
control, which increases the risk of injury. Ensuring the patient's safety is the
priority in this situation.
3. Communication intervention rationale for encouraging patient to express
their feelings.
Scenario: A nurse encourages an anxious patient to talk about feelings and
concerns.
ANSWER✔✔: Concerns stated aloud become less overwhelming and help
problem solving to begin.
Rationale: Verbalizing emotions helps patients gain perspective, reduce anxiety,
and process feelings, leading to a more manageable emotional state.
,4. Common grief process points.
Scenario: A patient's fiancé died in an automobile accident several days ago. The
patient reports crying and experiencing feelings of guilt and anger.
ANSWER✔✔: Development of awareness - guilt, crying, and blaming the staff
are common in this stage.
Rationale: The grief process often includes intense emotions like guilt, anger, and
sadness. It's typical in the early stages of grief to feel overwhelmed by these
emotions.
6. Nursing diagnosis applicable to a patient experiencing terminal illness with
dysfunctional signs.
ANSWER✔✔: Complicated grieving, Risk for complicated grieving.
Rationale: Dysfunctional grief refers to unresolved or intense grief reactions that
hinder normal emotional processing. The risk for complicated grieving involves
individuals at risk of experiencing long-term emotional distress or maladaptive
grieving.
7. Successful completion of grieving.
Finding indicating successful grieving completion:
ANSWER✔✔: After 15 months, a widowed person realistically remembers both
the pleasures and disappointments of the relationship with the spouse.
Rationale: Successful grieving involves coming to terms with both positive and
negative aspects of a relationship, and being able to reflect on it realistically
without overwhelming pain.
8. Effective coping for a loss of a family member.
Scenario: A child drowned while swimming in a local lake 4 years ago. Which
behavior indicates the parents are coping effectively with their loss?
, ANSWER✔✔: The parents throw flowers on the lake at each anniversary date of
the accident.
Rationale: This ritual shows the parents are honoring their child's memory in a
way that helps them cope with the loss, maintaining a meaningful connection while
also allowing for healing.
9. Therapeutic active listening responses by the nurse caring for someone with
a terminal illness.
Scenario: A patient with metastatic brain cancer says, "I'm dying, but I'm still
living. I want to be in control as long as I can."
ANSWER✔✔: "Your mind and spirit are healthy, although your body is weak."
Rationale: This response acknowledges the patient's autonomy and emotional
state, showing empathy and respect for the patient's wishes while also validating
their strength.
Assessing the oral intake of a patient with an eating disorder.
Scenario: A patient referred to the eating disorders clinic has lost 35 pounds in the
past 3 months.
Best question to ask:
ANSWER✔✔: "What do you eat in a typical day?"
Rationale: This open-ended question focuses on the patient’s eating patterns,
which can help the nurse assess the extent of disordered eating.
12. Evaluating the perception of a patient with anorexia and how they
perceive their body image.
Scenario: A patient diagnosed with anorexia nervosa stopped eating 5 months ago
and lost 25% of body weight.
Most consistent response with anorexia:
ANSWER✔✔: "I am fat and ugly."
Answers With Verified Solutions Rated A
+ Newly Updated 2025
1. Counseling interventions for a patient experiencing mild anxiety.
Patient's statement: T states that before taking an examination he feels a
heightened sense of awareness and a sense of restlessness.
Most suitable nursing intervention:
ANSWER✔✔: Explain his symptoms as resulting from mild anxiety and discuss
the helpful aspects of mild anxiety.
Rationale: This helps the patient understand that mild anxiety can be beneficial
(enhancing alertness and focus), promoting safety, comfort, and reassurance. It
also fosters therapeutic communication, manages anxiety, and provides education
to the patient and their family.
2. Nursing diagnosis for patients with panic-level anxiety.
ANSWER✔✔: Risk for injury/safety
Rationale: Panic-level anxiety can cause intense physical symptoms and loss of
control, which increases the risk of injury. Ensuring the patient's safety is the
priority in this situation.
3. Communication intervention rationale for encouraging patient to express
their feelings.
Scenario: A nurse encourages an anxious patient to talk about feelings and
concerns.
ANSWER✔✔: Concerns stated aloud become less overwhelming and help
problem solving to begin.
Rationale: Verbalizing emotions helps patients gain perspective, reduce anxiety,
and process feelings, leading to a more manageable emotional state.
,4. Common grief process points.
Scenario: A patient's fiancé died in an automobile accident several days ago. The
patient reports crying and experiencing feelings of guilt and anger.
ANSWER✔✔: Development of awareness - guilt, crying, and blaming the staff
are common in this stage.
Rationale: The grief process often includes intense emotions like guilt, anger, and
sadness. It's typical in the early stages of grief to feel overwhelmed by these
emotions.
6. Nursing diagnosis applicable to a patient experiencing terminal illness with
dysfunctional signs.
ANSWER✔✔: Complicated grieving, Risk for complicated grieving.
Rationale: Dysfunctional grief refers to unresolved or intense grief reactions that
hinder normal emotional processing. The risk for complicated grieving involves
individuals at risk of experiencing long-term emotional distress or maladaptive
grieving.
7. Successful completion of grieving.
Finding indicating successful grieving completion:
ANSWER✔✔: After 15 months, a widowed person realistically remembers both
the pleasures and disappointments of the relationship with the spouse.
Rationale: Successful grieving involves coming to terms with both positive and
negative aspects of a relationship, and being able to reflect on it realistically
without overwhelming pain.
8. Effective coping for a loss of a family member.
Scenario: A child drowned while swimming in a local lake 4 years ago. Which
behavior indicates the parents are coping effectively with their loss?
, ANSWER✔✔: The parents throw flowers on the lake at each anniversary date of
the accident.
Rationale: This ritual shows the parents are honoring their child's memory in a
way that helps them cope with the loss, maintaining a meaningful connection while
also allowing for healing.
9. Therapeutic active listening responses by the nurse caring for someone with
a terminal illness.
Scenario: A patient with metastatic brain cancer says, "I'm dying, but I'm still
living. I want to be in control as long as I can."
ANSWER✔✔: "Your mind and spirit are healthy, although your body is weak."
Rationale: This response acknowledges the patient's autonomy and emotional
state, showing empathy and respect for the patient's wishes while also validating
their strength.
Assessing the oral intake of a patient with an eating disorder.
Scenario: A patient referred to the eating disorders clinic has lost 35 pounds in the
past 3 months.
Best question to ask:
ANSWER✔✔: "What do you eat in a typical day?"
Rationale: This open-ended question focuses on the patient’s eating patterns,
which can help the nurse assess the extent of disordered eating.
12. Evaluating the perception of a patient with anorexia and how they
perceive their body image.
Scenario: A patient diagnosed with anorexia nervosa stopped eating 5 months ago
and lost 25% of body weight.
Most consistent response with anorexia:
ANSWER✔✔: "I am fat and ugly."
