What is the nurse’s first priority when dealing with an angry or aggressive patient?
Ensure safety / maintain a safe environment
Name two common symptoms of PTSD.
Intrusive thoughts/flashbacks, avoidance, hyperarousal/hypervigilance, negative mood, nightmares, sleep disturbance
Difference between Acute Stress Disorder and PTSD
Acute Stress Disorder is short-term (less than one month) and PTSD is long-term
A person who is competitive, ambitious, impatient, and tense is most likely to be described as this personality type.
Type A
True or False: Older adult abuse usually occurs at hands or caregiver or person of trust.
True
PTSD symptoms must persist for at least how long to meet diagnostic criteria?
More than 1 month
Disorder characterized by individuals experience of distress that seems out of proportion to the severity of the stressor and may be unable to function socially
Adjustment Disorder
In stress appraisal, this step involves judging whether an event is a threat, harm, or challenge, and whether it’s relevant to one’s values or beliefs.
Primary Appraisal
During which phase of the cycle of violence does the abuser apologize and promise to change?
Honeymoon/respite phase
True or False: Men are more likely to experience PTSD.
False, women twice as likely to experience PTSD than men.
A patient reports flashbacks, nightmares, and hypervigilance beginning 2 weeks after a trauma. Which disorder is most likely?
Acute Stress Disorder
Name two physiologic changes in "fight or flight"
Increased serum glucose, increased cardiac output and blood pressure, increased oxygen tension and hematocrit, increased immune responses, heightened vigilance in the brain, hyper-activation of the homeostatic and coagulation system
Most common type of older adult abuse
Financial abuse
True or False: Stress increases symptoms of PTSD
True
A childhood disorder characterized by being withdrawn from adults or other caregivers due to unmet needs and not seeking/responding to comfort attempts
Reactive Attachment Disorder
This type of coping focuses on altering the meaning of a situation rather than changing the external circumstances.
Emotion-focused coping
What legal/ethical action must the nurse take if a patient makes a specific threat to harm someone?
Duty to warn / Tarasoff ruling
Name a common drug class for treatment of PTSD.
SSRIs, SNRIs, atypical antipsychotics, & mood stabilizers
A medication that is used off-label to help with nightmares in PTSD
Prazosin
This physiologic process refers to the body’s attempt to maintain stability through change and, when overloaded, leads to “wear and tear” on the body and brain.
Allostasis and allostatic load