Mental Health & Psychiatric NP Flashcards
7 cards from real NP practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Mental Health & Psychiatric NP flashcards as text
An 80-year-old patient develops sudden-onset confusion, disorientation, and fluctuating consciousness over hours after hip surgery. This presentation is most consistent with:
Answer: Delirium
Delirium is characterized by acute onset, fluctuating course, and impaired attention, typically triggered by a medical cause such as surgery, infection, or medication.
A patient with borderline personality disorder frequently alternates between idealizing and devaluing the NP during clinical encounters. This pattern is best described as:
Answer: Splitting
Splitting is the hallmark defense mechanism in BPD, in which individuals view people as either all good or all bad without integration of both qualities.
A patient with alcohol use disorder desires to maintain sobriety after detoxification. Which medication works by blocking opioid receptors to reduce alcohol craving and reward?
Answer: Naltrexone (Vivitrol)
Naltrexone is an opioid antagonist that blocks the euphoric and reinforcing effects of alcohol by antagonizing mu-opioid receptors involved in dopamine reward pathways.
A patient on clozapine develops high fever, muscle rigidity, altered consciousness, and autonomic instability. Which condition must be immediately suspected?
Answer: Neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS)
NMS is a rare but life-threatening reaction to antipsychotics characterized by hyperthermia, lead-pipe rigidity, autonomic instability, and altered consciousness.
A patient taking sertraline is started on tramadol by another provider and presents with agitation, diaphoresis, tremor, clonus, and hyperthermia. What is the most likely diagnosis?
Answer: Serotonin syndrome
Serotonin syndrome results from excess serotonergic activity, classically presenting with the triad of altered mental status, autonomic dysfunction, and neuromuscular abnormalities including clonus.
Which pharmacological agent is considered the first-line mood stabilizer for acute mania in bipolar I disorder when renal function is normal?
Answer: Lithium
Lithium is the gold-standard first-line mood stabilizer for acute mania and has the most evidence for reducing suicide risk in bipolar disorder.
Under which legal standard can a psychiatric NP initiate an involuntary psychiatric hold for a patient who is acutely psychotic and threatening to harm others?
Answer: Danger to self or others, or grave disability due to mental illness
Involuntary psychiatric holds (e.g., 5150 in California) are legally justified when a patient poses a danger to self, danger to others, or is gravely disabled due to a psychiatric condition.