Chapter 5: Mental Status Assessmen t Questions And Answers 2023- 2024

Chapter 5:
Mental
Status
Assessmen
t Questions
And
Answers
2023-
2024
The nurse is assessing mental status in children.
Which of the following statements is true?
1.All aspects of mental status in children are
interrelated.
2.Children are highly labile and unstable until the
age of 2 years.
3.Children's mental status is largely a function of
their parents' level of functioning until the age of 7
years.
4.Children's mental status is impossible to assess
until the child develops the ability to concentrate. -
ANSWER-ANS: 1
It is difficult to separate and trace the development
of just one aspect of mental status. All aspects are
interdependent. For example, consciousness is
rudimentary at birth because the cerebral cortex is
not yet developed. The infant cannot distinguish the
self from the mother's body.
The nurse is assessing a 75-year-old man. As the
nurse beings the mental status portion of the
assessment, the nurse expects that this patient:
1.will have no decrease in any of his abilities,
including response time.
2.will have difficulty on tests of remote memory
because this typically decreases with age.
3.may take a little longer to respond, but his general
knowledge and abilities should not have declined.
4.will have had a decrease in his response time
because of language loss and a decrease in general
knowledge. - ANSWER-ANS: 3
The aging process leaves the parameters of mental
status mostly intact. There is no decrease in general
knowledge and little or no loss in vocabulary.
Response time is slower than in youth. It takes a bit
longer for the brain to process information and
react to it.
When assessing aging adults, the nurse knows that
one of the first things that should be assessed
before making judgments about their mental status
is:
1.the presence of phobias.
2.their general intelligence.
3.the presence of irrational thinking patterns.
4.their sensory-perceptive abilities. - ANSWER-ANS:
4
Age-related changes in sensory perception can
affect mental status. For example, vision loss (as
detailed in Chapter 14) may result in apathy, social
isolation, and depression. Hearing changes are
common in older adults. This problem produces
frustration, suspicion, and social isolation and
makes the person look confused.
Which of the following statements is true regarding
the mental status examination?
1.A patient's family is the best resource for
information about the patient's coping skills.
2.It is usually sufficient to gather mental status
information during the health history interview.
3.It takes an enormous amount of extra time to
integrate the mental status examina- tion into the
health history interview.
4.It is usually necessary to perform a complete
mental status examination to get a good idea of the
patient's level of functioning. - ANSWER-ANS: 2