ANCC – PMHNP Test Questions and Answers Latest
2023 Rated A+
A patient with borderline personality disorder experiences intense anxiety when
an adult psychiatric and mental health nurse practitioner goes on vacation. The
best explanation for this reaction is that the patient:
A. has failed to develop clear ego boundaries.
B. has failed to master object constancy.
C. is employing primitive idealization.
D. is employing projective identification. – correct answer ✅B. has failed to
master object constancy
- A patient has been taking escitalopram (Lexapro) 10 mg daily for four weeks.
Initially, the patient reported depression and suicidal thoughts. The patient’s
sleep, appetite, energy, and appearance have now begun to improve. Which
statement applies to this patient?
A. The medication should be discontinued.
B. The medication should be increased.
C. The patient’s risk for suicide is not a concern.
D. The patient’s suicide potential is increased. – correct answer ✅D. The patient’s
suicide potential is increased. - Which behavior reflects existentially oriented therapy?
A. Attempting to understand a patient’s subjective world
ANCC – PMHNP Test Questions and Answers Latest
2023 Rated A+
B. Challenging a patient’s irrational beliefs
C. Developing specific plans for change
D. Establishing general group goals – correct answer ✅A. Attempting to
understand a patient’s subjective world
- Serving as a member on a crisis team, an adult psychiatric and mental health
nurse practitioner provides crisis intervention to the survivors of a plane crash.
Forty-eight hours after the accident, the survivors describe vivid flashbacks, startle
reactions, and disrupted sleep patterns. The nurse practitioner responds by:
A. advising the survivors to consider using a hypnotic medication for a brief
period.
B. educating the survivors about prodromal symptoms of posttraumatic stress
disorder.
C. encouraging the survivors to rest during the day.
D. suggesting that the survivors join a posttrauma support group. – correct answer
✅B. educating the survivors about prodromal symptoms of posttraumatic stress
disorder. - An adult psychiatric and mental health nurse practitioner uses the interpersonal
therapy model with a patient to establish a therapeutic alliance based upon
ANCC PMHNP Exam Prep Q&As 2023 (80 Qs)
Mesocortical pathway -correct answer ✅ executive function: attention,
focus, depression
nigrostriatal pathway -correct answer ✅ from substantia nigra (brainstem)
to striatum (muscles): Parkinson’s
mesolimbic pathway -correct answer ✅ projects to nucleus accumbens
(part of limbic system). Pleasure, reward, positive symptoms of
schizophrenia: Addiction, gambling
Tuberoinfundibular pathway -correct answer ✅ regulation of prolactin (acts
on pituitary). Hypersexuality in mania
Dopamine -correct answer ✅ produced in substania nigra and VTA. D2 & D4
receptors most important. Elevated in the mesolimbic pathway associated
with pleasure and psychosis. Antispychotics block dopamine. travels through
mesocoritcal, mesolimbic, nigrostriatal, and tuberinfundibular pathways
Serotonin -correct answer ✅ 5-HT. produced in raphe nucleus. emotion,
impulses, dreams. 5HT2A receptors = atypical antipsychotics.
ANCC PMHNP Exam Prep Q&As 2023 (80 Qs)
Norepinephrine -correct answer ✅ produced in locus coeruleus. arousal and
vigilance
GABA -correct answer ✅ inhibitory. produces calm in conjunction with
benzodiazepines.
ACTH -correct answer ✅ motor control, learning, memory, sleep, and
dreams. Helps with balance. Decrease in Alzheimer’s disease
hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) -correct answer ✅ CRH, ACTH,
then cortisol. Worsens with stress and depression
hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) -correct answer ✅ TRH, TSH, T4.
Hypothyroid causes depression, weight gain, slow metabolism. Hyperthyroid
is opposite.
hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) -correct answer ✅ GnRH, FSH, LH.
Malfunctions cause infertility problems.
ANCC PMHNP EXAM CHPT 4 (questions with Correct
solutions) 2023
The nurse practitioner is educated to lead interdisciplinary treatment teams –
correct answer ✅The nurse practitioner is educated to lead interdisciplinary
treatment teams.
- Acts as full partner in health care
- Designs, implements, evaluates, and advocates to redesign the U.S. healthcare
system - Translates research into practice
Team leadership model – correct answer ✅Team leadership model
Decision 1: Should the leader monitor the team or act? - Seek out information to understand the team
- Analyze information
- Interpret the information and decide how to act
Decision 2: Should the leader intervene to meet the task or relational need? - Performance functions
- Task functions
Decision 3: Should the leader intervene internally or externally?
ANCC PMHNP EXAM CHPT 4 (questions with Correct
solutions) 2023
Assess for conflicts between group members—action to maintain group
performance
- Assess for unclear goals
- Assess for proper support (Northouse, 2007, pp. 209-234)
Reflective Practice – correct answer ✅Reflective Practice - Reflection uses a model or framework to systematically “make sense of
experience” (Sherwood & Horton-Deutsch, 2012, p. 4). - Process to tell a story about self and others to gain insight into practice
- Enhances critical thinking to problem-solve and enhance clinical reasoning and
decision-making - Link theory to practice
Conflict Resolution, Negotiation, Mediation, and Professional
ANCC PMHNP EXAM CHPT 4 (questions with Correct
solutions) 2023
Civility – correct answer ✅Conflict Resolution, Negotiation, Mediation, and
Professional
Civility
- Conflict: occurs when a person believes his or her needs, interests, or values are
incompatible with others’ - Conflict resolution: directed by a neutral third party who facilitates a “win-win”
situation - Negotiation: discussion among two or more people with the goal of reaching an
agreement - Mediation: voluntary and confidential process in which a third party facilitates
discussion to reach an agreement - Arbitration: process in which a third party reviews evidence from both sides and
makes a decision to settle the case - Professional civility: behavior that shows respect toward another person
Critical Thinking – correct answer ✅Critical Thinking - Defined as the acquisition of knowledge with an attitude of deliberate inquiry
- Making clinical decisions based on evidence-based practice
ANCC PMHNP Psych-Mental Health NP Test 1 Q&As
Latest Update 2023
Your patient, whose wife died a few months ago, appears to be very unkempt and
apathetic. Although several months have passed since his wife’s death he has not
progressed at all through his grieving. You assess this condition as which of the
following?
disenfranchised grief
panic disorder
complicated grief
physiologic grief – Correct answer :
complicated grief
A person has uncomplicated grief when he or she has normal physical,
psychological, cognitive and spiritual responses to the death of a significant other.
But when the person shows persistent maladaptive behaviors such as not taking
care of personal hygiene and/or appearance and does not progress through the
mourning process, this is complicated grief.
If a patient has had a myocardial infarction, which of the following atypical
antidepressants should not be prescribed within the recovery phase?
Trazodone
Duloxetine
Bupropion
ANCC PMHNP Psych-Mental Health NP Test 1 Q&As
Latest Update 2023
Desvenlafaxine – Correct answer :
Trazodone
If a patient has had a myocardial infarction, during the recovery phase, the patient
should not be prescribed this medication. Trazodone (Desyrel) can cause the
patient to develop orthostatic hypotension and priapism.
To get your teaching ideas and concepts across to a poor reader which of the
following would be most appropriate?
Use longer sentences.
Use abstract concepts.
Discourage questioning.
Use examples and review. – Correct answer :
Use examples and review.
To get the idea across to a poor reader use examples and review. The other
choices are not helpful. You should use short sentences and easy to read layouts;
be concrete rather than abstract; and teach them how to ask questions about
their health. Also, tell context first and use visual, use common words and
examples, and explain meaning.
ANCC PMHNP Psych-Mental Health NP Test 1 Q&As
Latest Update 2023
A 21-year old woman presents with complaints of milky discharge from her
breasts. She doesn’t have any other symptoms and is not pregnant, nor has been
before. She tells the nurse about each medication that she takes. Which of these
drugs may be implicated as the cause of the symptom?
aspirin
Lamotrigine
Risperidone
sertraline – Correct answer :
Risperidone
Risperidone can cause the greatest prolactin elevation among atypical psychotics.
A milky white discharge known as galactorrhea could be a sign of an underlying
condition. The fact that the woman takes Risperidone, an atypical antipsychotic,
would likely point to the cause and should be switched with one less likely to have
that same side effect.
Which of the following would be considered one of the main things that is
responsible for about 2/3 of psychiatric hospital readmissions?
Not sufficient care.
Medication noncompliance
Biophysical assessments
ANCC PMHNP Psych-Mental Health NP Test 1 Q&As
Latest Update 2023
None of the above – Correct answer :
Medication noncompliance
Medication noncompliance is a major problem with the psychiatric mental health
patients. The home health nurses assists by helping the patients
to see the relationship between their compliance with their medication regimen
and control of their symptoms.
Which of the following would be considered an important form of communication
that can help to promote consistency in the care of the patient at the
same time that it justifies their stay in the hospital?
Review of care.
Documentation
Verbal reporting
None of the above – Correct answer :
Documentation
The other 3 options above are incorrect.