Nurses may be required to administer antipsychotic medications like prochlorperazine for a variety of reasons including delusions, hallucinations, combativeness, or for the relief of nausea and vomiting. One of the potential adverse side effects of antipsychotics is tardive dyskinesia. The nurse knows that tardive dyskinesia is which of the following? 

Explanation

• Many antipsychotics (also called neuroleptics) may cause tardive dyskinesia.

• Nurses should be alert to monitor for signs of tardive dyskinesia which are slow, rhythmical, involuntary movements and tics of muscle groups.

• Some signs are excessive blinking, erratic tongue movements, and moving shoulders up and down rhythmically.

• If these signs appear, the nurse should not administer any more doses of these drugs and should notify the doctor. If this condition is not caught early, it can become irreversible.

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