Question

18. A patient has been taking an antianxiety medication for a prolonged period of time Which information is most heipful to the nurse when attempting to determine if the patient has developed a physiologic dependence on the drug? 1. Degree of tolerance 2. Strength of the dose 3. Perceived need by the patient 4. Time it takes to achieve the therapeutic effect

Answer 1

Therapeutic effect of a drug is the desired effect or primary effect of the drug or the reason why the drug is prescribed.

Therapeutic range or index refers to either the dosage range or blood plasma or serum concentration usually expected to achieve desired therapeutic effects (or) it is the range in between toxic level of drug and minimum effective concentration.

The goal of medication administration is to keep the drug within the therapeutic range.

$\rightarrow$ Drug dependence means that an individual feels he needs to use drugs in order to function. (or) it is a form of substance abuse or drug abuse.

It occurs when a person has an emotional reliance on a drug because there is a craving for the response or effect that the drug produces.

Thus we can say that the length of time a drug takes to achieve its therapeutic effect is unrelated to the development of physiologic dependence on the drug

So here the answer is Option 3, ie, "Perceived need by the patient"