Theory 2 Flashcards
You have a patient who has acute angina.
Which of the following medications would be appropriate for this condition?
Digoxin
Nitroglycerin
Atropine
Propranolol
Nitroglycerin
Nitroglycerin causes dilatation of the coronary arteries which allows more O2 to get to the heart muscle. Digoxin is not appropriate because it increases the strength and contractility of the heart muscle; it will not help the heart muscle to receive more O2. Atropine increases the heart rate by blocking vagal stimulation thus suppressing the heart rate; it will not help the heart muscle to receive more O2. propranolol is appropriate only for long-term management of stable angina because it acts as a beta-blocker to control vasoconstriction.
A client who was trapped inside a car for hours after a head on collision is rushed to the emergency department with multiple injuries.
During the neurologic examination, the client responds to painful stimuli with decerebrate posturing.
This finding indicates damage to which part of the brain?
Diencephalon
Medulla
Midbrain
Cortex
MIDBRAIN
Decerebrate posturing, characterized by abnormal extension in response to painful stimuli, indicates damage to the midbrain. With damage to the diencephalon or cortex, abnormal flexion occurs when a painful stimulus is applied. Damage to the medulla results in flaccidity.
A 20-year-old male tells the nurse, “I have this stabbing pain in my right tonsil.”
When completing the review of systems, the client’s description of the pain indicates which of the following?
Timing
Location
Intensity
Character
Character
During the review of systems, the character is the feature of the problem, feeling or sensation the client is having. For instance, the stabbing pain tells the character of the feeling or sensation the client is having.
Lithium carbonate is ordered for a client with overactive behavior. The nurse should observe the client for which of these side effects?
Diarrhea
Glycosuria
Rash
Rhinitis
Diarrhea
Diarrhea is a common side effect of lithium carbonate and may indicate toxicity.
Rhinitis, glycosuria and rash are not side effects of lithium.
A 44-year-old patient is in the hospital oncology unit for a round of chemotherapy.
The nurse in charge has the option of having an LPN help her.
Which of the following activities is appropriate to assign to the LPN?
Checking the patient’s blood pressure
Administering follow-up doses of the chemotherapy after the nurse administers the first dose
Flushing the medication lines
Educating the patient about the side effects of the chemotherapy
checking the patient’s blood pressure
Of all of the choices only the task of checking the patient’s blood pressure should be delegated to an LPN. The other tasks are ones that should be taken care of by the nurse in charge. They are not activities that are appropriate for an LPN.
Part of your patient’s treatment for atrial flutter is the use of antidysrhythmic drugs.
Quinidine has been prescribed.
You recognize that this is which of the following types of antidysrhythmic drug?
Class I
Class II
Class III
vasopressor
Class I
Quinidine is a Class I antidysrhythmic drug. It is the type of drug often used to treat atrial fibrillation. It is also used to treat ventricular dysrhythmias.
The nurse is assessing the labor pains of a 23 year old female.
Which of the following is an assessment element for labor pains that the nurse should evaluate?
transition and presentation
uterine inversion and uterine bleeding
nausea and vomiting
frequency, duration, and intensity
frequency, duration, and intensity
When assessing and documenting contractions that happens during labor, the nurse should evaluate the frequency, duration and intensity of the contractions. The frequency is the time that has elapsed between the start of a contraction and the start of the next contraction. Then, the duration is the length of time that has elapsed from the start of the contraction to the end of that contraction. Also, with intensity, the strength of the contraction is measured with a process known as acme.
The nurse is caring for a busy woman with four children who reports not having slept through an entire night for more than a week because several of the children were ill. The nurse attributes which of the following behaviors to the woman’s lack of sleep?
sitting quietly in the waiting room reading a book
pacing in the waiting room
acting irritable with the receptionist
talking on the phone with the babysitter
acting irritable with the receptionist
Acting irritable with the receptionist. Common results of sleep deprivation include depression and emotional instability, which could explain why the client is irritable with the receptionist. Sitting quietly reading, pacing in the waiting room, or talking on the phone would not be associated with sleep deprivation.
The nurse is caring for a client who has Bell’s Palsy.
Which of the following would be an appropriate nursing care for this client?
Teach the client injury prevention and proper nutrition.
Perform range of motion exercises.
Administer an analgesic for headaches.
Teach the client to identify muscle spasm.
Teach the client injury prevention and proper nutrition
Much of the care for clients with Bell’s Palsy is client self-care. However, nurses do have a role in the care of the client with Bell’s Palsy which includes teaching the client injury prevention, education on proper nutrition, and assisting the client to develop an understanding of Bell’s Palsy.
The nurse is caring for a newborn with a large neural tube defect, and herniation of the meninges through the defect. The nurse documents this as what?
spina bifida
a meningocele
a meningomyelocele
gastroschisis
meningocele
Spina bifida is a general term reflecting a neural tube defect, but the more specific term, and the best response to the question for the defect described, is a meningocele. A meningomyelocele is herniation of the meninges and the spinal nerves through the defect. A gastroschisis is herniation of the abdominal contents through the umbilicus.
Which client is at the greatest risk for vascular dementia?
A 45-year-old who smokes two packs of cigarettes a week.
A 30-year-old female who has a history of chronic pain and myeloma.
A 62-year-old male smoker with hypertension.
A 76 year old with irritable bowel syndrome and a history of a stroke
A 62-year-old male smoker with hypertension
62-year-old smoker with hypertension. Risk factors for vascular dementia are increased age, current smoker or history of smoking, atrial fibrillation, diabetes mellitus, hypertension or coronary artery disease. The 62 year old who smokes and has hypertension has a higher risk for vascular dementia because of his age, his smoking habit and condition, which is hypertension.
A 50-year-old woman comes to the doctor’s office complaining of profuse menstrual bleeding.
After examination, the doctor determines that she has a uterine fibroid.
Which of the following would NOT be considered a treatment for this woman?
myomectomy
hysterectomy
Kegel exercises
hormonal regimen
Kegel exercises
Kegel exercises will not help with uterine fibroids. Treatment for this woman might be any of the other choices along with uterine artery embolization of the blood vessels supplying the fibroid tumor and cryosurgery.
Mr. Clarkson visits the doctor’s office to receive a yearly physical.
The client is a 66-year-old African-American male who is 6 feet tall and weighs 220 lbs.
While completing the assessment, the nurse learns that the client smokes two packs of cigarettes per day and has a history of alcohol use.
Further, the client states he rides his bicycle every day to his job at a grocery store, where he works as a cashier.
What part of the client’s assessment does not present a risk factor for hypertension?
66-year-old African-American.
History of alcohol use.
Smokes two packs of cigarettes per day
Rides his bicycle every day to work.
Rides his bicycle every day to work
Because a sedentary lifestyle is a risk factor for hypertension, riding his bicycle every day helps to keep the client active, thus reducing the risk for hypertension. On the other hand, being an older African-American is a risk factor, as well as his history of cigarette and alcohol use.
Elderly clients who fall are most at risk for which injuries?
wrist fractures
pelvic fractures
humerus fractures
cervical spine fractures
pelvic fractures
Elderly clients how fall often sustain pelvic and lower extremity fractures. These injuries are devastating because they can seriously alter an elderly client’s lifestyle and reduce function independence. Wrist fractures usually occur with falls on an outstretched hand or from a direct blow. They are commonly found in young men. Humerus fractures and cervical spine fractures are not age specific.
When teaching a client with peripheral vascular disease about foot care, the nurse should include which instruction?
avoid using cornstarch on the feet
avoid using a nail clipper to cut toenails
avoid wearing canvas shoes
avoid wearing cotton socks
avoid wearing canvas shoes
The client should be instructed to avoid wearing canvas shoes. Canvas shoes cause the feet to perspire, which may, in turn, cause skin irritation and breakdown. Both cotton and cornstarch absorb perspiration. The client should be instructed to cut toenails straight across with nail clippers.
Which of the following comments indicates that an 11-year-old child does NOT understand the concept of death?
“Death is irreversible and final.”
“Maybe I will see grandma again when she visits at Christmas.”
“My grandma died because she was sick and nothing could be done to make her better.”
“My grandma’s death has been hard to understand.”
Maybe I will see grandma again when she visits at Christmas”
Children this age do not yet understand that death is universal. They do not understand specific details of death.
A postpartum client tells the nurse she is having trouble moving her bowels.
The nurse should recommend that she do which of the following to combat constipation?
eat more cheese
add high-fiber foods to her diet
maintain bed rest and avoid exercise
limit fluid intake to 32 oz daily
add high-fiber foods to her diet
If a postpartum client has trouble moving her bowels, the nurse should recommend that she eat more high-fiber foods (such as fresh fruits and vegetables, bran, and prunes) and drink plenty of fluids (1 to 2 qt daily to replace fluids lost during labor and delivery) to promote peristalsis. Activity and exercise also aid peristalsis. Cheese is not known to promote bowel movements.
Which of the following is defined as “textbook” practices used by medical personnel to help prevent the spread of infectious microorganisms?
Surgical asepsis
Standard precautions
Susceptible host
Vehicle transmission
Standard precautions
Surgical asepsis is a way of doing away with disease-causing microorganisms before they infiltrate the body.
A susceptible host is an individual who lacks the strength of an immune system required to fight off the effects of invading microorganisms.
Vehicle transmission refers to microorganisms that are spread via items that are contaminated.
In a client who is close to death, the nurse can assess which of the following manifestations?
decreased blood pressure
slow, shallow breathing
increased sensation
breathing through the nose
decreased blood pressure
The clinical manifestations that are associated with someone who is approaching death are decreased blood pressure, cyanosis of the extremities, cold skin unless the client has a fever, noisy breathing, blurred vision, relaxed muscles, trouble talking, difficulty swallowing, urinary incontinence and limited body movement. Also, the client will have diminished sensation and not increased sensation, which makes increased sensation an incorrect answer choice. Then, slow, shallow breathing and breathing through the nose are not the best answer choices as individuals who are approaching death have rapid, shallow breathing and mouth breathing associated with the dryness in the nasal passages.
A nurse is caring for a patient who has just been given the news that she has gastric cancer.
Which of the following actions would be inappropriate for the nurse to take immediately after the news has been given?
Allow family members to gather with the client to absorb the implications of the diagnosis
Allow the patient to express her feelings
Educate the patient about what the diagnosis means to her now and in the future
Avoid a definite time frame in talking to the patient
Educate the client about what the diagnosis means to her now and in the future
After a patient has received a diagnosis of cancer, it is recommended that the patient be allowed to express her feelings, have private time with family members and that any definite time frame should be avoided. Educating the patient at this time would be not only inappropriate but more than likely ineffective.
Which of the following procedures requires sedation?
pulse oximetry
bronchoscopy
chest x-ray
polysomnography
bronchoscopy
bronchoscopy. A bronchoscopy is performed under sedation as a bronchoscope, a flexible tube, is inserted into the client’s nose or mouth. The remaining answer choices are incorrect as they do not require sedation.
Which of the following arteries primarily feeds the anterior wall of the heart?
Circumflex artery
Internal mammary artery
Left anterior descending artery
Right coronary artery
Left anterior descending artery
The left anterior descending artery is the primary source of blood for the anterior wall of the heart.
The circumflex artery supplies the lateral wall, the
internal mammary artery supplies the mammary,
right coronary artery supplies the inferior wall of the heart.
You are assessing a child who has been diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Which of the following would NOT be an indicator of this disease?
Gowers sign
vomiting (usually in the morning)
increasing clumsiness
waddling gait
vomiting (usually in the morning)
There are a number of assessments that you might make in a patient with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Vomiting is not one of them. The child may have a waddling gait, increasing clumsiness and muscle weakness, Gower sign (difficulty rising to standing position), delayed cognitive development, elevated CPK and SGOT/AST among other signs.
The nurse is about to administer the client’s morning digoxin, but decided it is appropriate to hold his dosage. Which of the following findings caused the nurse to make this decision?
Apical pulse of 51
Heartbeat is regular
Serum digoxin level of 1.3
Serum potassium of 4.8 mEq/L
Apical pulse of 51
A dose of digoxin should be withheld for an apical pulse below 60 beats per minute, unless otherwise directed by a physician. Dosing is acceptable for any regular heartbeat above 60 beats per minute. The dose would not be withheld for the digoxin and potassium blood serum levels, as these are within normal limits, with the therapeutic range of digoxin serum level being 0.9 to 2.0 mg/mL and normal serum potassium levels being 3.7 to 5.0 mEq/L.