Which statement made by a nursing educator best explains why it is important for nurses to determine a patient's medical history and recent drug use?
a. "Health care providers have a responsibility to prevent drug seekers from gaining access to drugs."
b. "This information is useful in determining what type of pain interventions will most likely be effective in providing pain relief."
c. "Some recreational drugs have pharmaceutical counterparts that may be more effective in managing pain."
d. "Getting this information gives the nurse an opportunity to provide patient teaching about drug abstinence."
ANS: B
In providing effective pain management, it is important to understand the patient's history, what drugs the patient has already tried, and what interventions work best or have negative actions. It is not the nurse's responsibility to judge or question a patient's pain or label her as a drug seeker. Nurses need to avoid labeling patients as drug seekers because this term is poorly defined and creates bias and prejudice among other health care providers. Although certain recreational drugs do have pharmaceutical counterparts, this is not the sole purpose of assessing drug use. The nurse needs more information beyond a patient's medical and medication history to determine whether a patient needs teaching about drug abstinence.
You might also like to view...
An emergency department nurse cares for a client who is severely dehydrated and is prescribed 3 L of intravenous fluid over 6 hours. At what rate (mL/hr) should the nurse set the intravenous pump to infuse the fluids?
(Record your answer using a whole number.) ____ mL/hr
The nurse is explaining to a student that a pregnant woman needs to complete a process called "binding in." Which is the best explanation of this phenomenon?
A. Becoming excited about the impending childbirth B. Incorporating the pregnancy into the woman's reality C. Learning to not focus on one's own discomforts D. Renegotiating roles within the woman's family
The nurse is preparing to administer a schedule II injectable drug and is drawing up half of the contents of a single-use vial. Which nursing action is correct?
a. Ask another nurse to observe and cosign wasting the remaining drug from the vial. b. Keep the remaining amount in the patient's drawer to give at the next dose. c. Record the amount unused in the patient's medication record. d. Dispose of the vial with the remaining drug into a locked collection box.
A 40-year-old male patient is concerned with his inability to have an erection since he was prescribed an antispasmodic for a muscular back injury and hydrocortisone cream to manage a chronic integumentary condition
What should the nurse suspect this patient is experiencing? 1. side effect of the antispasmodic medication 2. age-related erectile dysfunction 3. side effect of the hydrocortisone cream 4. result of the muscular back injury