The prescriber has ordered suramin sodium (Germanin) for a patient who has just returned from Africa and who had developed trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness)
Which instruction or instructions by the nurse should be included in the patient education to prevent a serious reaction?
a. "You may be sensitive to bright lights."
b. "You may experience vomiting."
c. "You may feel a little numbing of your hands and feet."
d. "I will need a urine sample."
ANS: D
To identify a serious reaction early, the nurse must collect a urine sample. Suramin concentrates in the kidneys and can cause local damage, resulting in the appearance of protein, blood cells, and casts in the urine. If urinary casts are observed, treatment should cease.
Photosensitivity, vomiting, and numbness of the hands and feet are expected effects with suramin sodium.
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The nurse is caring for a patient with C. diff. What type of precautions should she use?
a. Airborne b. Droplet c. Contact d. Protective
Select the action by the nurse that best helps promote the adaptation of a client in Addisonian crisis
a. Assign the client to a private room. b. Cover the client with one or two extra blankets to keep him warm. c. Ambulate the client four times per day to maintain exercise tolerance. d. Encourage the client to take a shower in-stead of a bed bath.
A patient with depression is demonstrating symptoms of anxious distress. Which characteristic should the nurse expect to observe in this patient? (Select all that apply.)
1. Overeating 2. Feeling tense 3. Being unusually restless 4. Waking up early in the morning 5. Having hallucinations and thought disturbances