A client taking paroxetine (Paxil) presents to the emergency room with agitation, increased sweating, and new auditory hallucinations.
What is the priority action?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A.
Ask if the patient has started any new prescription or over-the-counter medications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
B.
Administer an anti-anxiety medication to subdue and sedate the patient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
C.
Place the patient in loose bilateral arm restraints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
D.
Tell the patient that the voices they are hearing are not real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The correct answer is A. Ask if the patient has started any new prescription or over-the-counter medications.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In this scenario, the patient is experiencing agitation, increased sweating, and new auditory hallucinations after taking paroxetine (Paxil), which is an SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) used to treat depression and anxiety disorders. These symptoms may indicate the onset of serotonin syndrome, a potentially life-threatening condition caused by excessive serotonergic activity in the nervous system. Serotonin syndrome can result from the initiation of a new medication, increasing the dose of an existing medication, or drug interactions, particularly with other serotonergic agents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prioritizing to ask if the patient has started any new medications<\/strong> is crucial because identifying a new medication or a change in the patient’s medication regimen could provide immediate insight into the potential cause of these symptoms. This information will help guide subsequent management decisions, such as whether to discontinue paroxetine or any other medications involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While administering an anti-anxiety medication (B) may seem like a quick fix to calm the patient, it does not address the underlying issue and could potentially worsen the situation by masking critical symptoms of serotonin syndrome. Placing the patient in restraints (C) could lead to further agitation and does not solve the problem of determining the cause of the hallucinations and agitation. Telling the patient that the voices are not real (D) can invalidate their experience and may not be therapeutic; it is more important to assess the patient’s current condition and gather information about their medication history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In summary, obtaining a comprehensive medication history is vital in this situation to determine the cause of the patient’s distress and to initiate appropriate interventions, such as discontinuing offending agents or providing supportive care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A client taking paroxetine (Paxil) presents to the emergency room with agitation, increased sweating, and new auditory hallucinations.What is the priority action? A.Ask if the patient has started any new prescription or over-the-counter medications. B.Administer an anti-anxiety medication to subdue and sedate the patient. C.Place the patient in loose bilateral arm restraints. D.Tell the patient […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141290\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Explanation:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n