A client with diagnosed osteoarthritis comes to the clinic reporting a low-grade fever, fatigue, and bilateral joint pain. What action by the nurse is most appropriate?
a. Assess the client for a systemic infection.
b. Discuss increasing the dose of an-ti-arthritis drugs.
c. Prepare the client for a laboratory draw for rheumatoid factor.
d. Teach the client joint protection activities.
C
Osteoarthritis is generally a unilateral disease. The manifestations that this client exhibits are more consistent with rheumatoid arthritis, so the nurse will prepare the client for a blood draw. The nurse may need to teach joint protection measures, but an accurate diagnosis is most important.
You might also like to view...
A nurse in a rural community is employed in a facility that has had a shortage of nurses for several years. As a result, several nurses have left the institution citing "burnout."
To avoid risking burnout, the nurse regularly works out, practices yoga, socializes with friends once or twice a week, and participates in at least one annual national or state nursing conference. This approach to work-life balance reflects which concept within the framework of Caring Interventions? A) Self-compassion B) Self-care C) Self-control D) Self-actualizing
The number of IV site infections has more than doubled on a nursing unit
The staff determine common causes include the site is cleaned using inconsistent methods, dressing frequently becomes wet when patient showers, IV tubing is not changed every 48 hours per protocol, and inadequate hand washing of RN prior to insertion. A bar graph demonstrates the frequency in descending order, with 80% of infections being attributed to inadequate hand washing. The quality tool used is a: a. cause-and-effect diagram. b. run chart. c. Pareto chart. d. flowchart.
Which information should the nurse include in the education for a client prescribed finasteride (Proscar)?
A. "Pregnant women should not touch this medication." B. "This drug has only very minor side effects." C. "Side effects of the prescription occur within 1 week of starting treatment." D. "Swallow medication whole with a full glass of water."
A patient is taking acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) to prevent platelet aggregation. Which dose of aspirin will irreversibly acetylate circulating platelets within a few minutes, with effects lasting for the lifespan of the platelets?
A) 81 mg B) 180 mg C) 325 mg D) 650 mg