The nurse knows that elderly patients are at higher risk for complications and adverse outcomes during the intraoperative period. What is the best rationale for this phenomenon?
A) The elderly patient has more boney prominences than a younger person.
B) The elderly patient has reduced ability to adjust rapidly to emotional and physical stress.
C) The elderly patient has impaired thermoregulatory mechanisms, which increase susceptibility to hyperthermia.
D) The elderly patient has an impaired ability to decrease his or her metabolic rate.
Ans: B
Feedback: Other factors that affect the elderly surgical patient in the intraoperative period
include the following: impaired ability to increase metabolic rate and impaired thermoregulatory mechanisms increase susceptibility to hypothermia. Bone loss (25% in women, 12% in men) necessitates careful manipulation and positioning during surgery. Reduced ability to adjust rapidly to emotional and physical stress influences surgical outcomes and requires meticulous observation of vital functions. Option A is incorrect because the elderly have the same amount of bony prominences as a younger person, they are just more exposed.
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