A patient wants to donate organs after cardiac death. One hour after the withdrawal of life support the patient continues to breathe shallowly and has a slow heartbeat. What is the nurse's most appropriate response?
1. Call the patient's doctor to reintubate the patient.
2. Update the organ retrieval team that death is imminent.
3. Maintain hemodynamic stability to perfuse the donor's organs.
4. Allow death to occur naturally without organ donation.
4
Rationale 1: There is no need to reintubate the patient when death is imminent.
Rationale 2: This does not need to be done because the maximum amount of time has passed.
Rationale 3: This does not need to be done because the maximum amount of time has passed.
Rationale 4: An hour is considered the maximum acceptable interval between withdrawal of support and recovery of organs for minimizing ischemic damage. In the process of consent for organ donation, the patient would be allowed to die without resuscitation. However, if the patient continues to breathe with a heart rhythm for 60 minutes, then organ donation is no longer an option and the patient receives palliative care while death occurs naturally.
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A client who is admitted to the intensive care unit for monitoring notices the arthritis medication does not look like the one used at home and asks the nurse why. What is the nurseís best response?
1. "This is a different brand from the one you use at home, but it will give you the same pain relief." 2. "Your health care provider feels we can safely substitute this drug for the drug you use at home." 3. "This generic drug is the one we have on formulary in the pharmacy. It has the same ingredients as the one you use at home." 4. "This is what we have in the pharmacy. Go ahead and take it for now and let me know if it doesn't relieve the pain." 5. "The medications in the hospital often do not look like the ones you get from the pharmacy."
A patient will receive isoflurane (Forane) as an anesthetic for a surgical procedure. The nurse caring for this patient during the perioperative period knows that, unlike halothane, this agent will not cause:
a. myocardial depression. b. muscle relaxation. c. rapid induction. d. respiratory depression.
An adult male patient is complaining of decreased appetite. He states he just finished taking his antibiotics for an episode of pneumonia. What is the nurse's best response?
a. "Your wife should increase the spices in your food, as the pneumonia changes your sense of smell." b. "Notify your doctor immediately, because this is a concerning reaction to the medication." c. "You need to take an appetite stimulant, as your body will need good nutrition to recover from the infection." d. "You should see an improvement in the next week or so. Call if this continues."
You learn that a patient who was recently started on a new drug regimen is a nurse instructor. What should you do?
A. Realize that the patient already knows the information about the drug regimen. B. Ask the patient what he or she knows about the drug regimen. C. Treat the patient like any other patient. D. Prepare a comprehensive teaching program.