BRUNNER & SUDDARTH: TEST BANK (CHAPTER 12)
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
1. 1). The nurse who is a member of the palliative care
team is assessing a patient. The patient indicates that he
has been saving his PRN analgesics until the pain is intense
because his pain control has been inadequate. What
teaching should the nurse do with this patient?
A) Medication should be taken when pain levels are low so
the pain is easier to reduce.
B) Pain medication can be increased when the pain becomes
intense.
C) It is difficult to control chronic pain, so this is an
inevitable part of the disease process.
D) The patient will likely benefit more from distraction than
pharmacologic interventions.: A) Medication should be taken when pain
levels are low so the pain is easier to reduce.
Feedback:
Better pain control can be achieved with a preventive approach, reducing the amount of time
patients are in pain. Low levels of pain are easier to reduce or control than intense levels of
pain. Pain medication is used to prevent pain so pain medication is not increased when pain
becomes intense. Chronic pain is treatable. Giving the patient alternative methods to control
pain is good, but it will not work if the patient is in so much pain that he cannot institute
reliable alternative methods.
, BRUNNER & SUDDARTH: TEST BANK (CHAPTER 12)
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
2. 2). Two patients on your unit have recently returned to the
postsurgical unit
after knee arthroplasty. One patient is reporting pain of 8 to 9
on a 0-to-10 pain scale, whereas the other patient is reporting
a pain level of 3 to 4 on the same pain scale. What is the
nurse's most plausible rationale for understanding the
patient's different perceptions of pain?
A) Endorphin levels may vary between patients, affecting
the perception of pain.
B) One of the patients is exaggerating his or her sense of
pain.
C) The patients are likely experiencing a variance in
vasoconstriction.
D) One of the patients may be experiencing opioid tolerance.: A)
Endorphin levels may vary between patients, attecting the perception of pain.
, BRUNNER & SUDDARTH: TEST BANK (CHAPTER 12)
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Feedback:
Ditterent people feel ditterent degrees of pain from similar stimuli. Opioid tolerance is
associated with chronic pain treatment and would not likely apply to these patients. The
nurse should not assume the patient is exaggerating the pain because the patient is the
best authority of his or her existence of pain, and definitions for pain state that pain is
whatever the person says it is, existing whenever the experiencing person says it does.
3. 3). You are frequently assessing an 84-year-old womans
pain after she
suffered a humeral fracture in a fall. When applying the
nursing process in pain management for a patient of this
age, what principle should you best apply?
A) Monitor for signs of drug toxicity due to a decrease in
metabolism.
B) Monitor for an increase in absorption of the drug
due to age-related changes.
C) Monitor for a paradoxical increase in pain with opioid
administration.
D) Administer analgesics every 4 to 6 hours as ordered to
control pain.: A) Monitor for signs of drug toxicity due to a decrease in
metabolism.
Feedback:
, BRUNNER & SUDDARTH: TEST BANK (CHAPTER 12)
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Older people may respond ditterently to pain than younger people. Because elderly people
have a slower metabolism and a greater ratio of body fat to muscle mass compared with
younger people, small doses of analgesic agents may be suflcient to relieve pain, and these
doses may be ettective longer. This fact also corresponds to an increased risk of adverse
ettects. Paradoxical ettects are not a common phenomenon. The frequency of administration
will vary widely according to numerous variables.
4. 4). The nurse is assessing a patient's pain while the patient
awaits a cholecys-
tectomy. The patient is tearful, hesitant to move, and
grimacing. When asked, the patient rates his pain as a 2 at
this time using a 0-to-10 pain scale. How should the nurse
best respond to this assessment finding?
A) Remind the patient that he is indeed experiencing pain.
B) Reinforce teaching about the pain scale number system.
C) Reassess the patients pain in 30 minutes.
D) Administer an analgesic and then reassess.: B) Reinforce teaching
about the pain scale
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
1. 1). The nurse who is a member of the palliative care
team is assessing a patient. The patient indicates that he
has been saving his PRN analgesics until the pain is intense
because his pain control has been inadequate. What
teaching should the nurse do with this patient?
A) Medication should be taken when pain levels are low so
the pain is easier to reduce.
B) Pain medication can be increased when the pain becomes
intense.
C) It is difficult to control chronic pain, so this is an
inevitable part of the disease process.
D) The patient will likely benefit more from distraction than
pharmacologic interventions.: A) Medication should be taken when pain
levels are low so the pain is easier to reduce.
Feedback:
Better pain control can be achieved with a preventive approach, reducing the amount of time
patients are in pain. Low levels of pain are easier to reduce or control than intense levels of
pain. Pain medication is used to prevent pain so pain medication is not increased when pain
becomes intense. Chronic pain is treatable. Giving the patient alternative methods to control
pain is good, but it will not work if the patient is in so much pain that he cannot institute
reliable alternative methods.
, BRUNNER & SUDDARTH: TEST BANK (CHAPTER 12)
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
2. 2). Two patients on your unit have recently returned to the
postsurgical unit
after knee arthroplasty. One patient is reporting pain of 8 to 9
on a 0-to-10 pain scale, whereas the other patient is reporting
a pain level of 3 to 4 on the same pain scale. What is the
nurse's most plausible rationale for understanding the
patient's different perceptions of pain?
A) Endorphin levels may vary between patients, affecting
the perception of pain.
B) One of the patients is exaggerating his or her sense of
pain.
C) The patients are likely experiencing a variance in
vasoconstriction.
D) One of the patients may be experiencing opioid tolerance.: A)
Endorphin levels may vary between patients, attecting the perception of pain.
, BRUNNER & SUDDARTH: TEST BANK (CHAPTER 12)
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Feedback:
Ditterent people feel ditterent degrees of pain from similar stimuli. Opioid tolerance is
associated with chronic pain treatment and would not likely apply to these patients. The
nurse should not assume the patient is exaggerating the pain because the patient is the
best authority of his or her existence of pain, and definitions for pain state that pain is
whatever the person says it is, existing whenever the experiencing person says it does.
3. 3). You are frequently assessing an 84-year-old womans
pain after she
suffered a humeral fracture in a fall. When applying the
nursing process in pain management for a patient of this
age, what principle should you best apply?
A) Monitor for signs of drug toxicity due to a decrease in
metabolism.
B) Monitor for an increase in absorption of the drug
due to age-related changes.
C) Monitor for a paradoxical increase in pain with opioid
administration.
D) Administer analgesics every 4 to 6 hours as ordered to
control pain.: A) Monitor for signs of drug toxicity due to a decrease in
metabolism.
Feedback:
, BRUNNER & SUDDARTH: TEST BANK (CHAPTER 12)
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Older people may respond ditterently to pain than younger people. Because elderly people
have a slower metabolism and a greater ratio of body fat to muscle mass compared with
younger people, small doses of analgesic agents may be suflcient to relieve pain, and these
doses may be ettective longer. This fact also corresponds to an increased risk of adverse
ettects. Paradoxical ettects are not a common phenomenon. The frequency of administration
will vary widely according to numerous variables.
4. 4). The nurse is assessing a patient's pain while the patient
awaits a cholecys-
tectomy. The patient is tearful, hesitant to move, and
grimacing. When asked, the patient rates his pain as a 2 at
this time using a 0-to-10 pain scale. How should the nurse
best respond to this assessment finding?
A) Remind the patient that he is indeed experiencing pain.
B) Reinforce teaching about the pain scale number system.
C) Reassess the patients pain in 30 minutes.
D) Administer an analgesic and then reassess.: B) Reinforce teaching
about the pain scale
