The nurse is performing an admission assessment on a patient with AIDS. Which question would best evaluate the patient's risk of contracting an opportunistic infection?
1. "What were the results of your last CD4 and T cells test?"
2. "Have you had any fever, diarrhea, or chills over the last 48 hours?"
3. "Can you identify the signs and symptoms of a possible infection?"
4. "Are you sexually active with persons who also have AIDS?"
1
Rationale 1: Opportunistic infections occur in HIV-infected individuals as the virus destroys sufficient numbers of CD4+ T cells and the body is not able to protect itself. The results of the patient's most recent CD4 and T cells test would help the nurse assess the patient's risk of contracting such a disease.
Rationale 2: Identifying symptoms of an opportunistic infection such as fever, diarrhea, or chills is important to the treatment, not to evaluating the risk of contracting such a disease.
Rationale 3: The ability to self-assess would be helpful once an opportunistic infection has occurred.
Rationale 4: The AIDS status of the patient's sexual partners has no bearing on the risk of contracting an opportunistic infection.
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