A patient experiences a blood clot in one leg, and the provider has ordered a thrombolytic medication. The patient learns that the medication is expensive and asks the nurse if it is necessary. Which response by the nurse is correct?
a. "The drug will decrease the likelihood of permanent tissue damage."
b. "This medication also acts to prevent future blood clots from forming."
c. "You could take aspirin instead of this drug to achieve the same effect."
d. "Your body will break down the clot, so the drug is not necessary."
ANS: A
Thrombolytic medications are given primarily to prevent permanent tissue damage caused by compromised blood flow to the affected area. Thrombolytics do not prevent clots from forming. Aspirin prevents, but does not dissolve, clots. Although the body will break down the clot, the drug is needed to prevent tissue damage due to active ischemia.
You might also like to view...
Your patient has been admitted for a liver biopsy because the physician believes the patient may have liver cancer
The family has told both you and the physician that if the patient is terminal, the family does not want the patient to know. The biopsy results are positive for an aggressive form of liver cancer and the patient asks you repeatedly what the results of the biopsy show. What strategy can you use to give ethical care to this patient? A) Obtain the results of the biopsy and provide them to the patient. B) Tell the patient that only the physician knows the results of the biopsy. C) Promptly communicate the patient's request for information to the family and the physician. D) Tell the patient that the biopsy results are not back yet in order temporarily to appease him.
The second leading cause of maternal death in the United States is
a. sepsis. b. hemorrhage. c. hypertensive disease. d. disseminated intravascular coagulation.
When does the researcher set the level of significance for rejecting the statistical null hypothesis?
1. Once enough data are collected to show a definite trend. 2. Before data are collected. 3. After data are analyzed. 4. Just before study findings are published.
For an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, a nurse should:
a. remove the patient's dentures. b. suction the patient every 5 minutes. c. place the patient in high-Fowler's position. d. provide fluids immediately after the test is finished.