The elderly patient is receiving ethacrynic acid (Edecrin) and tells the nurse he doesn't hear as well as he used to. What is the best response by the nurse?
1. "You may be dehydrated; are you drinking enough fluid?"
2. "I will let your doctor know about this; it could be a side effect of your medication."
3. "How long have you been having difficulty hearing?"
4. "I will schedule a hearing exam; this could be a side effect of your medication."
Correct Answer: 2
Rationale: Loop diuretics are ototoxic. Instruct the patient to report ringing in the ears or becoming "hard of hearing" and notify the physician. It is inappropriate to schedule a hearing exam unless drug toxicity has been ruled out. Asking the patient about how long he has had the hearing loss is a good question, but the nurse must always report suspected side effects to the physician. Ototoxicity is not related to dehydration.
You might also like to view...
A nurse is caring for a patient who has pneumocystis pneumonia. The patient refuses to comply with the ordered nebulizer treatments. The nurse understands that the patient has the right to refuse based on:
A. Beneficence. B. Veracity. C. Autonomy. D. Justice.
Which of the following factors are a primary determinant of peak bone mass?
A) Genetics B) Gender C) Stress D) Hormones
The nurse visits an 81-year-old man with a recent diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease who lives at home with his wife (his primary caregiver)
Recently, the man has begun to be incontinent of urine, a development that his wife states accompanied a decline in his cognition. How would the nurse most likely categorize this incontinence? A) Urge incontinence B) Functional incontinence C) Overflow incontinence D) Stress incontinence
A nurse is teaching nursing students about the nursing process. Which of the following is a true statement regarding a nursing diagnosis?
A) It is synonymous with a medical diagnosis. B) It is considered the first step in the nursing process. C) It only incorporates actual client problems. D) It is the identification of a client problem based on conclusion from collected data.