The nurse is caring for a patient with rheumatoid arthritis who is in constant severe pain. Which nursing diagnosis is the highest priority for this patient?
a. Impaired walking r/t patient's need to use a cane or walker with ambulation
b. Readiness for enhanced comfort r/t sedentary lifestyle and poor physical condition
c. Effective therapeutic regimen management r/t mistrust of health care personnel
d. Chronic pain r/t ongoing inflammatory tissue damage and joint destruction
ANS: D
Chronic pain is the highest priority diagnosis for this patient because it is severe. The other diagnoses may be addressed once the patient's pain is controlled.
You might also like to view...
When planning care to improve oxygenation for a patient with respiratory failure, the nursing plan includes turning and positioning the patient regularly. What rationale does the nurse give for this intervention?
A) Turning reduces lung expansion. B) Turning maximizes the use of all lung zones. C) Turning reduces ventilation-perfusion matching. D) Turning reduces the work of breathing.
A statistic widely used to compare the health status of different populations is:
1. incidence of specific infections such as AIDS and tuberculosis. 2. infant mortality rate. 3. maternal morbidity rate. 4. incidence of low-birth-weight infants.
Prescribed is heparin 5,000 units SC every 12 hours. The pharmacy sends a prefilled syringe of 10,000 units of heparin per mL. The nurse should administer ____________________ mL
What will be an ideal response?
Common causes of sensorineural hearing loss include:
a. Streptomycin, neomycin, or other ototoxic drugs b. Otitis media c. Injury d. Foreign bodies