An older male adult who has osteoarthritis tells the nurse that he has experienced fatigue for the past 2 weeks. Which nursing intervention should the nurse implement to help him manage fatigue?
a. Recommend an antidepressant.
b. Help him plan exercise and rest.
c. Plan two or three naps everyday.
d. Tell him it is due to osteoarthritis.
B
Feedback
A Incorrect. This older adult has no indicators of depression except for fatigue. Although a balance of rest and exercise can help relieve depressive symptoms, exercise is not an effective therapy for severe depression.
B Correct. With no clues about the cause of the fatigue, the nurse helps this older adult balance exercise and rest to help alleviate fatigue. The fatigue can be due to decreased physical activity that in turn is due to pain from osteoarthritis (OA), in which case a balance of exercise and rest should help to attenuate the effects of pain from OA.
C Incorrect. Decreasing physical exercise is likely to contribute to fatigue and de-conditioning.
D Incorrect. Fatigue is an unusual characteristic of OA.
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