The nurse, caring for a patient following a subarachnoid hemorrhage, begins a nicardipine (Cardene) infusion. Baseline blood pressure assessed by the nurse is 170/100 mm Hg
Five minutes after beginning the infusion at 5 mg/hr, the nurse assesses the patient's blood pressure to be 160/90 mm Hg. What is the best action by the nurse? a. Stop the infusion for 5 minutes.
b. Increase the dose by 2.5 mg/hr.
c. Notify the physician of the BP.
d. Begin weaning the infusion.
B
Medications to control blood pressure are administered to prevent rebleeding before an aneurysm is secured. Following infusion, the patient's blood pressure remains dangerously high, so increasing the dose by 2.5 mg/hr is the best action by the nurse. Stopping the infusion or weaning the infusion is contraindicated before reaching the desired blood pressure. Notifying the physician of the blood pressure is not indicated until the upper limits of the infusion are reached without achieving the desired blood pressure.
You might also like to view...
During a routine physical a client is measured as weighing 121 lbs. How should the nurse document this client's weight in kilograms?
1. 55 2. 110 3. 165 4. 266
The client is being treated with prednisone. His treatment regimen includes aspirin. The nurse anticipates that the interaction of the two medications will result in _____ toxicity
a. cardiac b. genitourinary c. gastrointestinal d. respiratory
The diagnostic criteria for juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) include:
a. onset before age 16 c. loss of feeling or motion b. duration of at least 2 weeks d. subnormal temperature
A nurse is educating a client about the function of the parts of the auditory system. Which is the function of the Eustachian tube?
A) Transmits vibration to the fluid-filled inner ear at the oval window B) Separates the external from the middle ear C) Sends sensory information to the cerebellum and midbrain D) Equalizes the pressure in the middle ear with atmospheric pressure