A 38-year-old male with a history of schizophrenia is reported by neighbors to be screaming and throwing things in his house. You are familiar with the patient and have cared for him in the past for unrelated problems. Law enforcement officers escort you into the residence when you arrive. The patient tells you that he sees vampires and is attempting to ward them off by screaming and throwing things at them. He has several large lacerations to his forearms that are actively bleeding. The MOST appropriate way to manage this situation is to:
restrain the patient with appropriate force in order to treat his injuries.
positional asphyxia
Restriction of chest wall movements and/or airway obstruction; can rapidly lead to sudden death.
A 40-year-old male intentionally cut his wrist out of anger after losing his job. Law enforcement has secured the scene prior to your arrival. As you enter the residence and visualize the patient, you can see that he has a towel around his wrist and a moderate amount of blood has soaked through it. You should:
calmly identify yourself to the patient.
A behavioral crisis interferes with which of the following?
Activities of daily living
Behavior that is acceptable to the community
Dressing, eating, or bathing
A general impression of the patient is formed by an EMT:
at a distance when the patient is first seen.
Everyone exhibits some signs and symptoms of mental illness at some point in life ____________.
but that does not mean a person is mentally ill
From a mental health standpoint, an abnormal or disturbing pattern of behavior is a matter of concern if it lasts for at least:
1 month.
Signs of excited delirium include:
diaphoresis, tachycardia, and hallucinations.
The two basic categories of diagnosis that a physician will use for behavioral crises or psychiatric emergencies are ____________.
physical and psychological
What is the most common misconception surrounding mental illness?
Feeling "bad" or "depressed" means that you must be "sick."
When a psychiatric emergency arises, a patient is most likely to exhibit which of the following behaviors?
Any behaviors that are a violent threat to the patient, EMTs, or others
When caring for a patient experiencing excited delirium, the EMT should remember that:
sudden death can occur if the patient's violence is not controlled.
Which of the following is a good guideline for physical examination of any patient?
Avoid touching without permission.
Which of the following is an example of a psychiatric emergency?
A person violently attacking family members
Which of the following is considered an organic brain syndrome?
Alzheimer dementia
Which of the following terms applies to a state of delusion in which the patient is out of touch with reality?
Psychosis
Why might EMTs encounter a larger proportion of violent patients than the population at large?
EMTs respond to patients who, by definition, are having an emergency.
You are assessing a 45-year-old female who is severely depressed. She states that it seems as though her entire world is crashing down around her. She further states that she has had frequent thoughts of suicide, but is not sure if she can actually go through with it. How should you manage this situation?
Ask the patient if she has developed a suicidal plan.
You are attending to a 27-year-old patient with a history of depression. The patient's family tells you that she has been openly talking about harming herself and suicide, and they got scared when she tried to overdose on some medications. The patient did not take the pills and is alert and oriented. Despite all of your best efforts to convince her, the patient refuses to go to hospital for treatment. Based on this information, you should:
stay with the patient while you arrange for other transport options as a potentially life-threatening emergency exists.
You are attending to a 32-year-old male patient. The patient's wife tells you that he returned from Afghanistan last year. While he initially seemed fine, lately he has become withdrawn and distanced himself from his family and friends. He does not talk about it, but she knows that he has been having terrible nightmares that wake him up. The most appropriate question to ask regarding his experience in Afghanistan is:
Were you shot at or under fire?
You receive a call for a domestic dispute. When you arrive at the scene, you find a young male standing on the front porch of his house. You notice that an adjacent window is broken. The patient has a large body, is clenching his fists, and is yelling obscenities at you. Which of the following findings is LEAST predictive of this patient's potential for violence?
His large body size
