A nurse is working on an intensive care unit and caring for a patient with increased intracranial pressure. The patient is to receive an opiate. The nurse questions the order because
a. patients with increased intracranial pressure are more prone to dysphoria, which can be produced when opiates are first initiated.
b. the sedation that opiates produce can last longer in patients with elevated in-creased intracranial pressure.
c. opiates can be given to patients with elevated intracranial pressure, although higher doses are required.
d. opiates suppress respirations and therefore increase the CO2 content of the blood, which further increases intracranial pressure.
D
The ability of opiates to suppress respirations increases the CO2 content in the blood which will result in elevated increased intracranial pressure, which should be prevented in someone who already has an increase in intracranial pressure.
Patients with increased intracranial pressure are not more prone to dysphoria when opiates are first initiated.
Opiates are contraindicated in patients with increased intracranial pressure due to their effect on respirations as well as their increased sedation effects which can mask relevant changes in intra-cranial pressure.
Higher doses of opiates are not indicated in patients with elevated increased intracranial pressure; they are contraindicated.
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