A patient diagnosed with dementia associated with excessive alcohol use is shown a pencil, a nickel, and a safety pin and asked to repeat the names of each. Later when asked to identify the same three items the patient is unable to do so. The nurse assesses this as:
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: The correct answer is B: agnosia. Agnosia is the inability to recognize or identify objects despite intact sensory abilities. In this case, the patient's inability to identify the pencil, nickel, and safety pin suggests a deficit in object recognition, which aligns with agnosia.
A: Apraxia is the inability to perform purposeful movements despite intact motor function, not related to object recognition.
C: Concreteness refers to difficulty understanding abstract concepts, not object recognition.
D: Catastrophizing is an irrational belief that something is far worse than it actually is, not related to the patient's inability to identify objects.