Porth's Essentials of Pathophysiology, 5th Edition by Norris
– All Chapters Covered | Rationals Included | Grade A+
QUESTION: A client develops an infection with a resistant organism while hospitalized for surgery.
After treatment, there are no obvious signs of infection, but a culture shows that the organism is
present. Which term describes the client's status?
a) Preclinical stage
b) Carrier status
c) Chronic disease
d) Clinical disease ✓✓Correct Answer: b) Carrier status
In carrier status, the client shows no symptoms, tests positive for the disease, and may still transmit
the disease but is not infected. Chronic disease is a long-term, continuous process. In the preclinical
stage of a disease, a client may show no symptoms but will progress to clinical disease. In clinical
disease, the condition is overtly present.
QUESTION: There are three fundamental types of prevention used in health care: primary,
secondary, and tertiary. Which statement accurately describes secondary prevention?
a) Secondary prevention is often accomplished outside the health care system at the community
level.
b) Secondary prevention goes beyond treating the problem with which the person presents.
c) Secondary prevention takes place within health care systems and involves the services of a
number of different types of health care professionals.
d) Secondary prevention detects disease early, and most is done in clinical settings. ✓✓Correct
Answer: d) Secondary prevention detects disease early, and most is done in clinical settings.
1|Page
,Secondary prevention detects disease early in its course when it is still asymptomatic and treatment
measures can effect a cure or stop the disease from progressing. Most secondary prevention is
undertaken in clinical settings. Tertiary prevention goes beyond treating the presenting problem.
Tertiary prevention programs are located within health care systems and involve the services of a
number of different types of health care professionals. Primary prevention is often accomplished
outside the health care system at the community level.
QUESTION: Why are some diseases termed syndromes?
a) They have complications.
b) They leave sequelae (e.g., lesions) and residual effects.
c) They are a compilation of signs and symptoms characteristic of a specific disease state.
d) They are a group of disease states that has the same etiology. ✓✓Correct Answer: c) They are a
compilation of signs and symptoms characteristic of a specific disease state.
A syndrome is a compilation of signs and symptoms (e.g., chronic fatigue syndrome) that are
characteristic of a specific disease state. Complications are possible adverse extensions of a disease
or outcomes from treatment. Sequelae are lesions or impairments that follow or are caused by a
disease. There is no name for a group of disease states that all have the same cause.
QUESTION: A multidisciplinary healthcare team operates a program aimed at the prevention,
identification, and treatment of diabetes on a large Indian reservation. Which aspect of the program
would most likely be classified as secondary prevention?
a) Administering oral antihyperglycemic medications to clients who have a diagnosis of diabetes.
b) Teaching school children how a nutritious, traditional diet can lessen their chances of developing
adult-onset diabetes.
c) Staffing a booth where community residents who are attending a baseball tournament can have
their blood glucose levels checked.
d) Regularly scheduled wound dressing changes for clients who have foot ulcers secondary to
peripheral neuropathy and impaired wound healing. ✓✓Correct Answer: c) Staffing a booth where
2|Page
,community residents who are attending a baseball tournament can have their blood glucose levels
checked.
Secondary prevention focuses on screening and early disease identification, such as checking the
blood glucose levels of a large number of individuals to identify potential cases of diabetes. Wound
treatment and medication administration would be considered tertiary interventions, and education
would be considered primary prevention.
QUESTION: An occupational therapist conducts a group therapy program called MindWorks with
older adults who have diagnoses of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. The goal of the group is to
slow the cognitive decline of clients by engaging them in regular, organized mental activity such as
reading maps and solving puzzles. How would the program most likely be characterized?
a) Prognosis enhancement
b) Tertiary prevention
c) Secondary prevention
d) Primary prevention ✓✓Correct Answer: b) Tertiary prevention
Interventions aimed at slowing the course of an already-diagnosed disease characterize tertiary
prevention.
QUESTION: An epidemiologist is conducting a program of research aimed at identifying factors
associated with incidence and prevalence of congenital cardiac defects in infants. The researcher has
recruited a large number of mothers whose infants were born with cardiac defects as well as
mothers whose infants were born with healthy hearts. The researcher is comparing the nutritional
habits of all the mothers while their babies were in utero. Which type of study is the epidemiologist
most likely conducting?
a) Cohort study
b) Cross-sectional study
c) Risk factor study
d) Case-control study ✓✓Correct Answer: d) Case-control study
3|Page
, In this study, the mothers with cardiac-affected babies would be the case group, while the mothers
of healthy infants would serve as a control. This study does not possess the characteristics of a
cohort or cross-sectional study, and risk factor study is not an existing methodology.
QUESTION: A client delivers a child via vaginal birth after having an uneventful prenatal course.
After the infant is born, the nurse discovers an extra digit. The client states that she had the same
thing when she was born. What does the nurse recognize that this defect is considered?
a) Congenital condition
b) Acquired defect
c) A chronic defect
d) An acute defect ✓✓Correct Answer: a) Congenital condition
Congenital conditions are defects that are present at birth, although they may not be evident until
later in life or may never manifest. Congenital conditions may be caused by genetic influences,
environmental factors, maternal drug use, irradiation, or gestational problems in utero, or a
combination of genetic and environmental factors.
QUESTION: An infant has a difficult time passing through the birth canal and the physician uses
forceps to deliver the child. In the process, the facial nerve was damaged, resulting in a facial droop.
Which condition does the nurse recognize this to be?
a) Pathogenesis
b) Acquired defect
c) Morphologic change
d) Congenital condition ✓✓Correct Answer: b) Acquired defect
Acquired defects are those that are caused by events that occur after birth. These include injury,
exposure to infectious agents, inadequate nutrition, lack of oxygen, inappropriate immune
responses, and neoplasia. Congenital conditions are defects that are present at birth, although they
may not be evident until later in life or may never manifest. Morphologic changes are concerned
with both the gross anatomic and microscopic changes that are characteristic of a disease.
Pathogenesis explains how the disease process evolves.
4|Page
– All Chapters Covered | Rationals Included | Grade A+
QUESTION: A client develops an infection with a resistant organism while hospitalized for surgery.
After treatment, there are no obvious signs of infection, but a culture shows that the organism is
present. Which term describes the client's status?
a) Preclinical stage
b) Carrier status
c) Chronic disease
d) Clinical disease ✓✓Correct Answer: b) Carrier status
In carrier status, the client shows no symptoms, tests positive for the disease, and may still transmit
the disease but is not infected. Chronic disease is a long-term, continuous process. In the preclinical
stage of a disease, a client may show no symptoms but will progress to clinical disease. In clinical
disease, the condition is overtly present.
QUESTION: There are three fundamental types of prevention used in health care: primary,
secondary, and tertiary. Which statement accurately describes secondary prevention?
a) Secondary prevention is often accomplished outside the health care system at the community
level.
b) Secondary prevention goes beyond treating the problem with which the person presents.
c) Secondary prevention takes place within health care systems and involves the services of a
number of different types of health care professionals.
d) Secondary prevention detects disease early, and most is done in clinical settings. ✓✓Correct
Answer: d) Secondary prevention detects disease early, and most is done in clinical settings.
1|Page
,Secondary prevention detects disease early in its course when it is still asymptomatic and treatment
measures can effect a cure or stop the disease from progressing. Most secondary prevention is
undertaken in clinical settings. Tertiary prevention goes beyond treating the presenting problem.
Tertiary prevention programs are located within health care systems and involve the services of a
number of different types of health care professionals. Primary prevention is often accomplished
outside the health care system at the community level.
QUESTION: Why are some diseases termed syndromes?
a) They have complications.
b) They leave sequelae (e.g., lesions) and residual effects.
c) They are a compilation of signs and symptoms characteristic of a specific disease state.
d) They are a group of disease states that has the same etiology. ✓✓Correct Answer: c) They are a
compilation of signs and symptoms characteristic of a specific disease state.
A syndrome is a compilation of signs and symptoms (e.g., chronic fatigue syndrome) that are
characteristic of a specific disease state. Complications are possible adverse extensions of a disease
or outcomes from treatment. Sequelae are lesions or impairments that follow or are caused by a
disease. There is no name for a group of disease states that all have the same cause.
QUESTION: A multidisciplinary healthcare team operates a program aimed at the prevention,
identification, and treatment of diabetes on a large Indian reservation. Which aspect of the program
would most likely be classified as secondary prevention?
a) Administering oral antihyperglycemic medications to clients who have a diagnosis of diabetes.
b) Teaching school children how a nutritious, traditional diet can lessen their chances of developing
adult-onset diabetes.
c) Staffing a booth where community residents who are attending a baseball tournament can have
their blood glucose levels checked.
d) Regularly scheduled wound dressing changes for clients who have foot ulcers secondary to
peripheral neuropathy and impaired wound healing. ✓✓Correct Answer: c) Staffing a booth where
2|Page
,community residents who are attending a baseball tournament can have their blood glucose levels
checked.
Secondary prevention focuses on screening and early disease identification, such as checking the
blood glucose levels of a large number of individuals to identify potential cases of diabetes. Wound
treatment and medication administration would be considered tertiary interventions, and education
would be considered primary prevention.
QUESTION: An occupational therapist conducts a group therapy program called MindWorks with
older adults who have diagnoses of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. The goal of the group is to
slow the cognitive decline of clients by engaging them in regular, organized mental activity such as
reading maps and solving puzzles. How would the program most likely be characterized?
a) Prognosis enhancement
b) Tertiary prevention
c) Secondary prevention
d) Primary prevention ✓✓Correct Answer: b) Tertiary prevention
Interventions aimed at slowing the course of an already-diagnosed disease characterize tertiary
prevention.
QUESTION: An epidemiologist is conducting a program of research aimed at identifying factors
associated with incidence and prevalence of congenital cardiac defects in infants. The researcher has
recruited a large number of mothers whose infants were born with cardiac defects as well as
mothers whose infants were born with healthy hearts. The researcher is comparing the nutritional
habits of all the mothers while their babies were in utero. Which type of study is the epidemiologist
most likely conducting?
a) Cohort study
b) Cross-sectional study
c) Risk factor study
d) Case-control study ✓✓Correct Answer: d) Case-control study
3|Page
, In this study, the mothers with cardiac-affected babies would be the case group, while the mothers
of healthy infants would serve as a control. This study does not possess the characteristics of a
cohort or cross-sectional study, and risk factor study is not an existing methodology.
QUESTION: A client delivers a child via vaginal birth after having an uneventful prenatal course.
After the infant is born, the nurse discovers an extra digit. The client states that she had the same
thing when she was born. What does the nurse recognize that this defect is considered?
a) Congenital condition
b) Acquired defect
c) A chronic defect
d) An acute defect ✓✓Correct Answer: a) Congenital condition
Congenital conditions are defects that are present at birth, although they may not be evident until
later in life or may never manifest. Congenital conditions may be caused by genetic influences,
environmental factors, maternal drug use, irradiation, or gestational problems in utero, or a
combination of genetic and environmental factors.
QUESTION: An infant has a difficult time passing through the birth canal and the physician uses
forceps to deliver the child. In the process, the facial nerve was damaged, resulting in a facial droop.
Which condition does the nurse recognize this to be?
a) Pathogenesis
b) Acquired defect
c) Morphologic change
d) Congenital condition ✓✓Correct Answer: b) Acquired defect
Acquired defects are those that are caused by events that occur after birth. These include injury,
exposure to infectious agents, inadequate nutrition, lack of oxygen, inappropriate immune
responses, and neoplasia. Congenital conditions are defects that are present at birth, although they
may not be evident until later in life or may never manifest. Morphologic changes are concerned
with both the gross anatomic and microscopic changes that are characteristic of a disease.
Pathogenesis explains how the disease process evolves.
4|Page
