A patient with asthma asks why he must take regularly scheduled systemic drugs when he can stop several asthma attacks each day within a few minutes of their onset by using a short-acting beta agonist inhaler. What is the nurse's best response?
a. "Frequent asthma attacks, even if they are halted relatively quickly, damage the bronchial tissues over time."
b. "If asthma attacks are uncontrolled they lead to the eventual development of lung cancer and emphysema."
c. "Using only short-acting beta agonists will lead to drug resistance and then the drug won't work when you need it."
d. "Inhaled beta agonist drugs only treat the constriction aspects of asthma and do not help the inflammatory aspects of the disease."
A
Because damage can occur with any asthma attack, the main focus of therapy should be on attack prevention rather than just on symptom management.
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A) Assess oxygen levels B) Give anti-anxiety medications C) Notify the physician D) Make a social services consult
In the assessment of a client's abdomen, the abdomen is visually divided into four quadrants. The dividing lines for the quadrants are the:
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The nurse is analyzing an arterial blood gas report of a patient with COPD and respiratory acidosis. Through which mechanism should the nurse expect compensation to occur?
1. The kidneys retain bicarbonate. 2. The kidneys excrete bicarbonate. 3. The lungs will retain carbon dioxide. 4. The lungs will excrete carbon dioxide.