A patient in the hospital has been receiving heparin injections. The platelet count on admission was 222,000/mm3 and four days later is 113,000/mm3. What action by the healthcare professional is best?
a. Prepare to transfuse the patient with platelets.
b. Do nothing; this is an expected side effect.
c. Switch the heparin to lepirudin
d. Stop all the patient’s medications.
Ans: c. Switch the heparin to lepirudin
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A patient who is postoperative day 2 following a coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) has been experiencing significant pain in the region of his sternal incision. What patient teaching should the nurse perform with this patient?
A) "Try to hug a folded blanket across your chest when you move or breathe deeply." B) "If possible, try to avoid coughing and breathe as shallowly as possible to relieve pressure on your incision." C) "The less you can move, the less pain you're likely to have in the area of your incision." D) "Getting you up and mobilizing as soon as possible will help with this problem."
The nurse is assisting the eye surgeon in completing an examination of the eye. Which piece of equipment would the nurse provide to the physician to examine the fundus and interior of the eye?
A) Retinoscope B) Ophthalmoscope C) Tonometer D) Amsler grid
While straightening the top drawer of a 10-year-old patient the nurse finds 48 packets of sugar. What should the nurse do at this time?
A) Advise the mother to have the child tested for diabetes. B) Throw out the sugar because this will promote dental caries. C) Place the sugar packets in the drawer as they were found. D) Ask the mother if the child has a history of craving sweets.
In deciding how to apply evidence to practice, _____________ is a concern for nurses because individual patients may not have the same characteristics as the study subjects
a. reliability b. generalizability c. validity d. duplicity