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1. A 5-year-old child is admitted to the hospital in a sickle cell crisis. The child
has been alert and oriented but in severe pain. The nurse notes that the
child is complaining of headache and is having unilateral hemiplegia. What
action should the nurse implement?
A. Notify the health care provider
B. Place the child on bed rest
C. Administer a dose of hydrocodone (Vicodin)
D. Start Ó per the hospitals protocol. - Correct Answer: A. Notify the
health care provider
Any number of neurologic symptoms can indicate a minor cerebral insult,
such as headache, aphasia, weakness, convulsions, visual disturbances, or
unilateral hemiplegia. Loss of vision is usually the result of progressive
retinopathy and retinal detachment. The nurse should notify the health
care provider.
2. What pain medication is contraindicated in children with sickle cell disease
(SCD)?
A. Meperidine
B. Hydrocodone
C. Morphine sulfate
D. Ketorolac - Correct Answer: A. Meperidine
, Meperidine is not recommended. Normeperidine, a metabolite of
meperidine, is a central nervous system stimulant that produces anxiety,
tremors, myoclonus, and generalized seizures when is accumulates with
repetitive dosing. Patients with SCD are particularly at risk for
normeperidine-induced seizures.
3. A child with sickle cell disease is vase-occlusive crisis. What
nonpharmacologic pain intervention should the nurse plan?
A. Exercise as a distraction
B. Heat to the affected area
C. Elevation of the extremity
D. Cold compresses to the affected area - Correct Answer: B. Heat to
the affected area
Frequently, heat to the affected area is soothing. Cold compresses are not
applied to the area because doing so enhances vasoconstriction and
occlusion. bed rest is usually well tolerated during a crisis, altho the actual
ret obtained depends a great deal on pain alleviation and the use of
organized schedules of nursing care. Although the objective of bed rest s to
minimize oxygen consumption, some activity, particularly passive range of
motion exercises, is beneficial to promote circulation. Usually the best
course is to let children determine their activity tolerance. elevating the
extremity will not help in sickle cell disease.
4. The nurse is caring for a patient with increased intracranial pressure. Which
action is considered unsafe?
A. Aligning the neck with the body
B. Clustering many nursing activities
, C. Elevating the head of the bed 30 degrees
D. Providing stool softeners or laxatives as ordered - Correct Answer:
B. Clustering many nursing activities
It is important to minimize stress and activities that could increase ICP.
Combining many nursing activities could increase oxygen demand and ICP.
This would not be safe. Interventions which can promote venous outflow
can help decrease ICP. The stress of constipation or bowel movements can
increase ICP; stool softener or laxatives can minimize this.
5. The earliest and most sensitive assessment finding that would indicate an
alteration in intracranial regulation would be
A. Change in level of consciousness
B. Inability to focus visually
C. Loss of primitive reflexes
D. Unequal pupil size - Correct Answer: A. Change in level of
consciousness
A change in the level of consciousness is the earliest and most sensitive
indication of a change in intracranial processing. This is assessed with the
GCS, which assess eye opening and verbal and motor response. The inability
to focus may indicate a change, but it is not one of the earliest indicators or
a component of the GCS. Primitive reflexes refers to those reflexes found in
a normal infant that disappear with maturation. These reflexes may
reappear with frontal lobe dysfunction and may be tested for with a
suspected brain injury, so it would be a reappearance of primitive reflexes.
A change in pupil size or unequal pupils may indicate a change, but they are
not one of the earliest indicators or a component of the GCS.
, 6. When caring for the patient after a head injury, the nurse would be most
concerned with assessment findings which included respiratory changes
A. Hypertension, and bradycardia
B. Hypertension, and tachycardia
C. Hypotension, and bradycardia
D. Hypotension, and tachycardia - Correct Answer: A. Hypertension,
and Bradycardia
Hypertension with widening pulse pressure, bradycardia, and respiratory
changes are the ominous late stages of increased ICP and indications of
impending herniation (Cushing's trail). It is bradycardia, not tachycardia,
which is the component of this ominous trait. It is hypertension, not
hypotension, which is the component of the ominous triad.
7. Components of the GCS the nurse would use to assess a patient after a
head injury include
A. Blood pressure
B. Cranial nerve function
C. Head circumference
D. Verbal responsiveness - Correct Answer: D. Verbal responsiveness
Components of GCS include eye opening, motor responsiveness , and verbal
responsiveness. The nurse would want to assess the blood pressure, but
this is not a component of comma scale. Assessment of cranial nerve
function is appropriate as alterations such as cranial nerve VI palsies may
occur, but this is not part of the coma scale. Increases in head
circumference are associated with alterations in ICP in infants, but this is
not part of the coma scale.