The burned client newly arrived from an accident scene is prescribed to receive 4 mg of morphine sulfate by IV push. What is the most important reason to administer the opioid analgesic to this client by the intravenous route?
A. The medication will be effective more quickly than if given intramuscularly.
B. It is less likely to interfere with the client's breathing and oxygenation.
C. The danger of an overdose during fluid remobilization is reduced.
D. The client delayed gastric emptying.
C
Although providing some pain relief has a high priority, and giving the drug by the IV route in-stead of IM, SC, or orally does increase the rate of effect, the most important reason is to prevent an overdose from accumulation of drug in the interstitial space during the fluid shift of the emergent phase. When edema is present, cumulative doses are rapidly absorbed when the fluid shift is resolving. This delayed absorption can result in lethal blood levels of analgesics.
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If the patient's dorsal columns are not functioning, the nurse will observe which of the following responses during neurotesting,
where the nurse asks the patient to close his eyes and then proceeds to touch corresponding parts of the body on each side simultaneously with two sharp points? A) Grimacing when body touched with sharp points B) No response to two-point discrimination C) Heightened proprioceptive response D) Inability to identify which way his finger was moved during the test
In which section would the following sentence most likely appear? "The results may have been influenced by the patients' desire to please the researchers and the hospital staff."
A) Introduction B) Method section C) Results section D) Discussion
The mental health nurse at a community health center reviews the charts of the patients who present for appointments at the beginning of the day. Which patient will the nurse see first?
1. A college student who has been referred from the student health center for an ADHD evaluation 2. A 43-year-old woman with schizophrenia who reports she has stopped taking her medication because it makes her feel sick 3. A 35-year-old woman with bipolar disorder who requires a medication evaluation 4. A 25-year-old man with obsessive-compulsive disorder who reports a relapse of symptoms
A patient is being evaluated for Alzheimer's disease (AD). The nurse explains to the patient's adult children that
a. the most important risk factor for AD is a family history of the disorder. b. new drugs have been shown to reverse AD dramatically in some patients. c. a diagnosis of AD is made only after other causes of dementia are ruled out. d. the presence of brain atrophy detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) will confirm the diagnosis of AD.