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NURS 617 / NURS617 Exam 1 2026/2027
Pharmacotherapeutics Actual Exam Questions
with Verified Answers and Detailed Rationales
Grade A Study Guide
1. A client with a spinal cord injury is at greatest risk for atrophy of which tissue type?
A. Liver
B. Skin
C. Brain
D. Skeletal muscles
CORRECT ANSWER: D
Rationale: Skeletal muscles require regular nervous stimulation to maintain size and
function. Denervation from a spinal cord injury leads to disuse atrophy, making skeletal
muscles the most vulnerable.
2. A client has a chronic cervical infection caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV).
The nurse understands this places the client at risk for which cervical change?
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A. Metaplasia
B. Hormonal hyperplasia
C. Atrophy
D. Dysplasia
CORRECT ANSWER: D
Rationale: Chronic irritation or infection, such as with HPV, is a known stimulus for
dysplasia—abnormal changes in the size, shape, and organization of mature cervical
cells, which is a precancerous finding.
3. The process of compensatory hyperplasia is primarily stimulated by which factor?
A. Ischemia
B. Tissue loss
C. Decreased hormonal stimulation
D. Puberty
CORRECT ANSWER: B
Rationale: Compensatory hyperplasia is an adaptive response to replace lost tissue,
such as liver regeneration after partial resection. Growth factors stimulate cell division
to restore the organ's mass.
4. In response to chronic hypertension, myocardial cells in the left ventricle will adapt
through which process?
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A. Dysplasia
B. Hypertrophy
C. Hyperplasia
D. Atrophy
CORRECT ANSWER: B
Rationale: Cardiac muscle cells are terminally differentiated and cannot divide. In
response to the increased workload of hypertension, they adapt by increasing in size
(hypertrophy), not number.
5. A nurse notes tissue necrosis in a client's wound. Which substance is most likely to
accumulate in this dead tissue?
A. Calcium
B. Melanin
C. Protein
D. Uric acid
CORRECT ANSWER: A
Rationale: Dystrophic calcification, the abnormal deposition of calcium salts in dead or
dying tissue, is a common sequela of tissue necrosis and chronic inflammation.
6. The nurse understands that the physiologic process of muscle hypertrophy primarily
involves an increase in:
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A. Cell division.
B. Water accumulation.
C. Plasma membrane thickness.
D. Protein synthesis.
CORRECT ANSWER: D
Rationale: Hypertrophy is an increase in cell size due to the synthesis of more cellular
structural components, such as proteins and organelles, not an increase in cell number
or simple fluid accumulation.
7. Metaplasia is best defined as the reversible replacement of one mature cell type by
another:
A. Cancerous cell.
B. Abnormal cell of the same tissue type.
C. Scar tissue.
D. Less differentiated cell type.
CORRECT ANSWER: D
Rationale: Metaplasia is the replacement of one differentiated cell type with another,
often less specialized, type that is better suited to withstand a chronic stressor (e.g.,
squamous cells replacing ciliated columnar cells in the airways of a smoker).
NURS 617 / NURS617 Exam 1 2026/2027
Pharmacotherapeutics Actual Exam Questions
with Verified Answers and Detailed Rationales
Grade A Study Guide
1. A client with a spinal cord injury is at greatest risk for atrophy of which tissue type?
A. Liver
B. Skin
C. Brain
D. Skeletal muscles
CORRECT ANSWER: D
Rationale: Skeletal muscles require regular nervous stimulation to maintain size and
function. Denervation from a spinal cord injury leads to disuse atrophy, making skeletal
muscles the most vulnerable.
2. A client has a chronic cervical infection caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV).
The nurse understands this places the client at risk for which cervical change?
,2|Page
A. Metaplasia
B. Hormonal hyperplasia
C. Atrophy
D. Dysplasia
CORRECT ANSWER: D
Rationale: Chronic irritation or infection, such as with HPV, is a known stimulus for
dysplasia—abnormal changes in the size, shape, and organization of mature cervical
cells, which is a precancerous finding.
3. The process of compensatory hyperplasia is primarily stimulated by which factor?
A. Ischemia
B. Tissue loss
C. Decreased hormonal stimulation
D. Puberty
CORRECT ANSWER: B
Rationale: Compensatory hyperplasia is an adaptive response to replace lost tissue,
such as liver regeneration after partial resection. Growth factors stimulate cell division
to restore the organ's mass.
4. In response to chronic hypertension, myocardial cells in the left ventricle will adapt
through which process?
,3|Page
A. Dysplasia
B. Hypertrophy
C. Hyperplasia
D. Atrophy
CORRECT ANSWER: B
Rationale: Cardiac muscle cells are terminally differentiated and cannot divide. In
response to the increased workload of hypertension, they adapt by increasing in size
(hypertrophy), not number.
5. A nurse notes tissue necrosis in a client's wound. Which substance is most likely to
accumulate in this dead tissue?
A. Calcium
B. Melanin
C. Protein
D. Uric acid
CORRECT ANSWER: A
Rationale: Dystrophic calcification, the abnormal deposition of calcium salts in dead or
dying tissue, is a common sequela of tissue necrosis and chronic inflammation.
6. The nurse understands that the physiologic process of muscle hypertrophy primarily
involves an increase in:
, 4|Page
A. Cell division.
B. Water accumulation.
C. Plasma membrane thickness.
D. Protein synthesis.
CORRECT ANSWER: D
Rationale: Hypertrophy is an increase in cell size due to the synthesis of more cellular
structural components, such as proteins and organelles, not an increase in cell number
or simple fluid accumulation.
7. Metaplasia is best defined as the reversible replacement of one mature cell type by
another:
A. Cancerous cell.
B. Abnormal cell of the same tissue type.
C. Scar tissue.
D. Less differentiated cell type.
CORRECT ANSWER: D
Rationale: Metaplasia is the replacement of one differentiated cell type with another,
often less specialized, type that is better suited to withstand a chronic stressor (e.g.,
squamous cells replacing ciliated columnar cells in the airways of a smoker).
