1 :

Hint : 🔍Focus on a developmental finding involving understanding communication despite normal hearing.

Correct Answers:

  • The client demonstrates delayed receptive language skills despite intact hearing and typical motor development.


Rationale :

🧠Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) commonly demonstrate difficulties with communication and language development, including understanding spoken language. 🗣️Receptive language delay can occur even when hearing is intact because the difficulty involves processing and understanding communication, rather than an auditory deficit.🤝ASD is characterized by persistent difficulties with social communication and interaction, often accompanied by restricted or repetitive behaviors and interests.

🧩Motor development can remain relatively typical, while significant differences are present in language, social interaction, and communication skills.


📌Core Message

Autism spectrum disorder commonly involves social-communication and language difficulties, including delayed receptive language, even when hearing and motor development are intact.

2 :

Medical History

Major depressive disorder X 20 years Anxiety disorder A Suicide ideation during teenage years Psychotherapy for past 10 years with therapist Mother committed suicide when client was 25 years of age; father died of heart disease 10 years ago. History of alcohol misuse, attended in-patient rehabilitation 4 years ago, no alcohol use since that time Good physical health with no reported morbidities

Escitalopram 20 mg PO daily

Bupropion 300 mg PO daily

Alprazolam 0.5mg PO daily PRN anxiety

Day 1 admission

Client reports to facility on advice from therapist to self-admit due to increased feelings of depression and thoughts of committing self-harm. Reports having large supply of alprazolam, has thought of "taking all of them."

Day 2

Client reports that they have increased feelings of loneliness, hopelessness. and sadness following recent separation from partner of 25 years. States they have been compliant with antidepressant therapy, "But the meds don't seem to be working anymore." No immediate family in vicinity, estranged from siblings, "They got over me a long time ago." Client acknowledges having a few friends, but "I don't want to burden them with my stuff, I'm not worth that."


For each client assessment finding, click to specify if the finding is a potential risk for suicide or a protective factor against suicide.


Assessment Findings Risk Factor Protective Factor
Support systems
Physical health
Access to lethal means
Family history
Mental health support
Feelings of self-worth
Alcohol consumption

Hint : 🔍Separate findings that increase access, hopelessness, and inherited/family vulnerability from those that provide support and stability.

Correct Answers

  • Support systems [ Protective Factor ]
  • Physical health [ Protective Factor ]
  • Access to lethal means [ Risk Factor ]
  • Family history [ Risk Factor ]
  • Mental health support [ Protective Factor ]
  • Feelings of self-worth [ Risk Factor ]
  • Alcohol consumption [ Protective Factor ]

Rationale :

🤝The client has friends and an established therapist, providing potential social and professional support, which can protect against suicide risk through connectedness and access to help.

💪The client reports good physical health with no significant medical comorbidities, which is protective because serious or chronic illness can contribute to increased suicide risk.

💊The client has a large supply of alprazolam and has specifically considered taking all of it, demonstrating access to a potentially lethal means and a suicide plan, which substantially increases immediate risk.

🧬The client's mother died by suicide, making family history of suicide an established suicide risk factor.

🧠The client has received psychotherapy for 10 years and maintains contact with a therapist who recognized deterioration and encouraged admission, demonstrating ongoing mental health support and help-seeking.

💔Statements such as “I'm not worth that”, along with hopelessness and loneliness, indicate low self-worth and hopelessness, which increase concern for suicidal behavior.

🍃Although the client has a history of alcohol misuse, they report no alcohol use for 4 years, so their current abstinence from alcohol functions as the protective finding in this assessment; active substance misuse would instead increase risk.


📌Core Message

Major suicide risk factors here include access to lethal medication, family history of suicide, and low self-worth, while social support, good physical health, mental health treatment, and sustained alcohol abstinence provide protective influences.

3 :

Hint : 🔢Calculate the total daily dose first, then divide by the concentration.

Correct Answers:

  • 1.5


Rationale :

💊The prescription is 0.75 mg twice daily, giving a total daily dose of 1.5 mg.

🧮The available concentration is 1 mg/mL, so 1.5 mg requires 1.5 mL.

📏The calculation is 1.5 mg ÷ 1 mg/mL = 1.5 mL/day.

🎯Rounded to the nearest tenth, the client receives 1.5 mL daily.


📌Core Message

The client receives 1.5 mg/day, which equals 1.5 mL/day of a 1 mg/mL solution.

4 :

Hint : 🪜Treatment aims for progressive control, not an abrupt elimination of rituals.

Correct Answers:

  • The client will gradually learn to reduce the number of times that they check their locks.


Rationale :

🔐The repeated checking represents a compulsion performed to reduce anxiety associated with obsessive thoughts.

📉A realistic long-term goal is the gradual reduction of compulsive behavior, rather than demanding abrupt cessation.

🧠Exposure and response prevention (ERP) specifically helps clients gradually face anxiety-provoking situations without performing their usual compulsions.

🌱Gradual reduction promotes improved control of anxiety and functioning while avoiding an unrealistic immediate expectation.


📌Core Message

Effective OCD treatment aims to gradually decrease compulsions and improve the client's ability to tolerate anxiety.

5 :

Hint : 🚦Think about providing clear rules and predictable consequences.

Correct Answers:

  • Consistent limit setting


Rationale :

🚧Children with conduct disorder can demonstrate aggression, rule violations, and disregard for the rights of others.

📋Consistent limits provide clear behavioral expectations and predictable consequences.

⚖️Consistency reduces opportunities for manipulation and helps the child understand the relationship between behavior and consequences.

🧱Firm, calm boundaries are particularly important when managing impulsive or aggressive behavior.


📌Core Message

Children with conduct disorder benefit from firm, consistent limits and predictable consequences for behavior.

6 :

Hint : 🗨️Choose the response that explores the feeling behind the behavior.

Correct Answers:

  • "It sounds like purging helps you manage difficult emotions. Tell me more about that."


Rationale :

💬This response uses therapeutic communication by acknowledging the client's perception without approving the harmful behavior.

🫶The statement encourages the client to explore the emotional function of bingeing and purging rather than becoming defensive.

🧠Psychotherapy for eating disorders helps clients identify unhelpful thoughts, develop coping skills, and change maladaptive behavioral patterns.

🌿An open-ended response promotes self-exploration and insight, which supports recovery.


📌Core Message

Therapeutic communication with bulimia should promote exploration of emotions and healthier coping strategies without judgment.

7 :

Hint : 👅Recognize abnormal repetitive mouth and tongue movements after long-term antipsychotic therapy.

Correct Answers:

  • Document the findings and contact the healthcare provider to evaluate the need for medication adjustment.


Rationale :

👄Lip smacking and involuntary chewing movements are classic manifestations of tardive dyskinesia.

⏳The risk of tardive dyskinesia increases with long-term exposure to antipsychotic medications such as haloperidol.

📞The nurse should document and promptly notify the provider so the medication regimen can be reassessed.

🩺Treatment changes must be made by the prescriber because withdrawal or adjustment of antipsychotic therapy requires clinical evaluation.


📌Core Message

Lip smacking and chewing movements suggest tardive dyskinesia and require documentation and prompt provider evaluation.

8 :

Hint : 👨‍👩‍👧Choose the intervention that provides the family with education, connection, and support.

Correct Answers:

  • Promote involvement in support groups for children and families with tic disorders.


Rationale :

🤝Support groups can connect children and parents with families experiencing similar challenges.

🏡Family education and support can reduce misunderstanding and improve the child's social and emotional environment.

🧠Tics are involuntary or difficult-to-control movements and sounds, rather than intentional misbehavior.

🌈Supportive interventions help families respond appropriately while evidence-based behavioral treatment can be used when tics significantly interfere with functioning.


📌Core Message

Children with tic disorders benefit from a supportive, nonjudgmental environment and access to appropriate family resources.

9 :

Hint : 📉Look for an objective measure of intellectual functioning that accompanies adaptive deficits.

Correct Answers:

  • An intelligence quotient (IQ) of below 70


Rationale :

🧠Intellectual disability involves significant limitations in both intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior.

📊An IQ around 70 or below supports evidence of significantly impaired intellectual functioning.

🧩The child's existing difficulty with communication and activities of daily living demonstrates deficits in adaptive functioning.

👦Together, impaired intellectual ability and adaptive functioning strongly support the diagnosis of intellectual disability.


📌Core Message

Intellectual disability requires limitations in intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior, with an IQ around 70 or below supporting the diagnosis.

10 :

Hint : 💨Think about how rapidly changing thoughts affect a manic client's speech.

Correct Answers:

  • The client responds to questions with disorganized speech.


Rationale :

⚡Acute mania commonly produces rapid thinking and flight of ideas, causing speech to become difficult to follow.

🗣️Speech can become rapid, pressured, and poorly organized as thoughts shift quickly from one topic to another.

🌪️Severe manic episodes can substantially impair thought organization and functioning.

🏥Among the available findings, disorganized speech most strongly supports an acute manic state.


📌Core Message

Acute mania can produce rapid, poorly organized speech and flight of ideas due to accelerated thought processes.

Total Questions: 10

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