The nurse is caring for an adolescent patient who began taking an antipsychotic drug last month to treat newly diagnosed schizophrenia

Question

The drug has not been effective and the mother asks the nurse if this means the adolescent's symptoms cannot be controlled by drugs. What is the nurse's best response? A) Patients commonly have to try different drugs until the most effective drug is identified.
B) Some patients do not respond to drugs and have to rely solely on behavior therapy.
C) Most likely your child was not taking the medication properly as prescribed.
D) He may need to take multiple drugs before effects will be seen that control his symptoms.

Answer 1

A
Feedback:
A patient who does not respond to one drug may react successfully to another agent. Responses may also vary because of cultural issues. The selection of a specific drug depends on the desired potency and patient tolerance of the associated adverse effects. It is not common to have a patient who does not demonstrate some improvement from medications so it would be incorrect to tell the mother the child won't respond to any drug after trying only one medication. There is no indication the drug was taken improperly and even properly administered drugs will not work on all patients. Multiple drug therapy is not indicated by the question.