On day 4 of hospitalization after a suicide attempt, the patient tells the nurse, "You don't have to worry about me any longer. Today was the turning point. You can stop the sui-cide precautions."
Which action indicates the nurse's use of intuition in responding to this patient?
a. Reporting the patient's statements and the nurse's own feelings to the staff and suggest increased vigilance
b. Reporting only the patient's statements and evaluate the outcome, Patient will report lack of suicidal ideation as attained.
c. Conferring with the patient's family members to obtain their evaluation of the pa-tient and his behavior and follow their lead
d. Suggesting that the level of suicide precautions be lowered from one-to-one su-pervision to observing the patient every 30 minutes
ANS: A
It is unlikely that a highly suicidal patient would recover so quickly. Sometimes hospitaliza-tion and medication allow a renewal of energy, enough to increase suicidal resolve. The nurse should follow this intuition and suggest increased vigilance. Keeping this concern to oneself is not helpful. Taking the lead from the family is not appropriate, and lowering suicide pre-cautions so soon is risky.
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