The nurse concerned about safety encourages a client to stop which medication?
a. Cetirizine (Zyrtec)
b. Diphenhydramine (Benadryl)
c. Fexofenadine (Allegra)
d. Loratadine (Claritin)
B
Traditional antihistamines such as diphenhydramine cross the blood-brain barrier and can produce significant drowsiness. Clients who choose these medications need to exercise extreme caution when driving or doing other activities that involve machinery or other safety concerns. Because newer agents (cetirizine, fexofenadine, and loratadine) do not cross the blood-brain barrier (or do so poorly), they do not cause the drowsiness that limits the use of older medications. Nurses should teach about safety measures and encourage clients to try the newer antihistamines if drowsiness is a problem.
You might also like to view...
The clinical nurse specialist meets with a client receiving lithium. The nurse tells the client that her
lithium level is 0.6 mEq/L, a finding in the desirable range. The nurse reinforces the importance of continuing to take the lithium as directed and the need to drink adequate amounts of fluids. This action is part of the advanced practice intervention of a. psychotherapy. b. consultation. c. prescriptive authority. d. complementary interventions.
Assessment is crucial to the care of patients with neurologic dysfunction. What does accurate and appropriate assessment require? Select all that apply
A) The ability to select mediations for the neurologic dysfunction B) Understanding of the tests used to diagnose neurologic disorders C) Knowledge of nursing interventions related to assessment and diagnostic testing D) Knowledge of the anatomy of the nervous system E) The ability to interpret the results of diagnostic tests
A nurse is completing an initial assessment on a new patient being seen in the hospital clinic. The female patient presents with vague symptoms of tiredness and large areas of ec-chymosis. The question that would be most important to ask is:
1. "Are you allergic to anything?" 2. "Do your gums bleed easily?" 3. "How many hours do you sleep?" 4. "How frequent are your periods?"
The nurse is preparing to admit a 10-year-old child with absence seizures. What clinical features of absence seizures should the nurse recognize? (Select all that apply.)
a. There is no aura. b. There is a postictal state. c. They usually last longer than 30 seconds. d. There is a brief loss of consciousness. e. There is an occasional clonic movement.