Editing Mental Health and Psychosocial Nursing (section)

== Prioritization Guide for Exam Items ==
When a psychiatric item asks what the nurse does first:
# '''Physiologic emergency or airway''' outranks everything (laryngospasm from dystonia, NMS, serotonin syndrome, lithium toxicity, delirium tremens, overdose).
# '''Imminent danger to self or others''' comes next (suicidal plan with means, command hallucinations to harm, imminent violence).
# '''Assessment before intervention''' when no emergency is present. Gather the missing datum.
# '''Therapeutic communication''' that explores feeling when the item is about a relationship or emotional response.
# '''Teaching and long-range planning''' last.

Also remember: stay with the anxious or panicked client, never leave a suicidal client alone, never argue with a delusion, never abruptly interrupt a compulsion, provide finger foods in mania, give thiamine before glucose in alcohol use, and check the time of last substance use on admission.