A nurse is planning the shift and must remember to add a new medication for one patient. When the time comes, the nurse pulls out the medication the patient has been using all along instead of the new one. What is this called?

Question

Multiple Choice
proactive interference
retroactive interference
anterograde amnesia
retrograde amnesia

Answer 1

The scenario described involves the nurse mistakenly recalling an old medication instead of the new one that needs to be administered. This situation is best classified as proactive interference.

Proactive interference occurs when old information interferes with the ability to learn or recall new information. In this case, the nurse's memory of the old medication is interfering with the recall of the new medication.

So, the correct answer is proactive interference.