MS1 MODULE 1 ALL EXAM QUESTIONS AND
VERIFIED ANSWERS
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.
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 nurses most plausible rationale for
understanding the patients 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, affecting the perception
of pain.
Brainpower
Read More
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.
The nurse is assessing a patients pain while the patient awaits a
cholecystectomy. 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 number system.
-
You are creating a nursing care plan for a patient with a primary
diagnosis of cellulitis and a secondary diagnosis of chronic pain. What
common trait of patients who live with chronic pain should inform your
care planning?
A) They are typically more comfortable with underlying pain than
patients without chronic pain.
B) They often have a lower pain threshold than patients without chronic
pain. C) They often have an increased tolerance of pain.
D) They can experience acute pain in addition to chronic pain.
D) They can experience acute pain in addition to chronic pain.
The nurse is caring for a 51-year-old female patient whose medical
history includes chronic fatigue and poorly controlled back pain. These
medical diagnoses should alert the nurse to the possibility of what
consequent health problem?
A) Anxiety
,B) Skin breakdown
C) Depression
D) Hallucinations
C) Depression
Your patient has just returned from the postanesthetic care unit (PACU)
following left tibia open reduction internal fixation (ORIF). The patient is
complaining of pain, and you are preparing to administer the patients
first scheduled dose of hydromorphone (Dilaudid). Prior to administering
the drug, you would prioritize which of the following assessments?
A) The patients electrolyte levels
B) The patients blood pressure
C) The patients allergy status
D) The patients hydration status
C) The patients allergy status
-
Your patient is receiving postoperative morphine through a patient-
controlled analgesic (PCA) pump and the patients orders specify an
initial bolus dose. What is your priority assessment?
A) Assessment for decreased level of consciousness (LOC)
B) Assessment for respiratory depression
C) Assessment for fluid overload
D) Assessment for paradoxical increase in pain
B) Assessment for respiratory depression
Your patient is 12-hours post ORIF right ankle. The patient is asking for
a breakthrough dose of analgesia. The pain-medication orders are
written as a combination of an opioid analgesic and a nonsteroidal anti-
inflammatory drug (NSAID) given together. What is the primary rationale
for administering pain medication in this manner?
A) To prevent respiratory depression from the opioid
B) To eliminate the need for additional medication during the night
C) To achieve better pain control than with one medication alone
D) To eliminate the potentially adverse effects of the opioid
C) To achieve better pain control than with one medication alone
, -
The nurse is caring for a patient with metastatic bone cancer. The
patient asks the nurse why he has had to keep getting larger doses of
his pain medication, although they do not seem to affect him. What is the
nurses best response?
A) Over time you become more tolerant of the drug.
B) You may have become immune to the effects of the drug.
C) You may be developing a mild addiction to the drug.
D) Your body absorbs less of the drug due to the cancer.
A) Over time you become more tolerant of the drug.
A 52-year-old female patient is receiving care on the oncology unit for
breast cancer that has metastasized to her lungs and liver. When
addressing the patients pain in her plan of nursing care, the nurse
should consider what characteristic of cancer pain?
A) Cancer pain is often related to the stress of the patient knowing she
has cancer and requires relatively low doses of pain medications along
with a high dose of anti-anxiety medications.
B) Cancer pain is always chronic and challenging to treat, so distraction
is often the best intervention.
C) Cancer pain can be acute or chronic and it typically requires
comparatively high doses of pain medications.
D) Cancer pain is often misreported by patients because of confusion
related to their disease process.
C) Cancer pain can be acute or chronic and it typically requires
comparatively high doses of pain medications.
-
The nurse caring for a 79-year-old man who has just returned to the
medicalsurgical unit following surgery for a total knee replacement
received report from the PACU. Part of the report had been passed on
from the preoperative assessment where it was noted that he has been
agitated in the past following opioid administration. What principle should
guide the nurses management of the patients pain?
VERIFIED ANSWERS
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.
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 nurses most plausible rationale for
understanding the patients 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, affecting the perception
of pain.
Brainpower
Read More
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.
The nurse is assessing a patients pain while the patient awaits a
cholecystectomy. 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 number system.
-
You are creating a nursing care plan for a patient with a primary
diagnosis of cellulitis and a secondary diagnosis of chronic pain. What
common trait of patients who live with chronic pain should inform your
care planning?
A) They are typically more comfortable with underlying pain than
patients without chronic pain.
B) They often have a lower pain threshold than patients without chronic
pain. C) They often have an increased tolerance of pain.
D) They can experience acute pain in addition to chronic pain.
D) They can experience acute pain in addition to chronic pain.
The nurse is caring for a 51-year-old female patient whose medical
history includes chronic fatigue and poorly controlled back pain. These
medical diagnoses should alert the nurse to the possibility of what
consequent health problem?
A) Anxiety
,B) Skin breakdown
C) Depression
D) Hallucinations
C) Depression
Your patient has just returned from the postanesthetic care unit (PACU)
following left tibia open reduction internal fixation (ORIF). The patient is
complaining of pain, and you are preparing to administer the patients
first scheduled dose of hydromorphone (Dilaudid). Prior to administering
the drug, you would prioritize which of the following assessments?
A) The patients electrolyte levels
B) The patients blood pressure
C) The patients allergy status
D) The patients hydration status
C) The patients allergy status
-
Your patient is receiving postoperative morphine through a patient-
controlled analgesic (PCA) pump and the patients orders specify an
initial bolus dose. What is your priority assessment?
A) Assessment for decreased level of consciousness (LOC)
B) Assessment for respiratory depression
C) Assessment for fluid overload
D) Assessment for paradoxical increase in pain
B) Assessment for respiratory depression
Your patient is 12-hours post ORIF right ankle. The patient is asking for
a breakthrough dose of analgesia. The pain-medication orders are
written as a combination of an opioid analgesic and a nonsteroidal anti-
inflammatory drug (NSAID) given together. What is the primary rationale
for administering pain medication in this manner?
A) To prevent respiratory depression from the opioid
B) To eliminate the need for additional medication during the night
C) To achieve better pain control than with one medication alone
D) To eliminate the potentially adverse effects of the opioid
C) To achieve better pain control than with one medication alone
, -
The nurse is caring for a patient with metastatic bone cancer. The
patient asks the nurse why he has had to keep getting larger doses of
his pain medication, although they do not seem to affect him. What is the
nurses best response?
A) Over time you become more tolerant of the drug.
B) You may have become immune to the effects of the drug.
C) You may be developing a mild addiction to the drug.
D) Your body absorbs less of the drug due to the cancer.
A) Over time you become more tolerant of the drug.
A 52-year-old female patient is receiving care on the oncology unit for
breast cancer that has metastasized to her lungs and liver. When
addressing the patients pain in her plan of nursing care, the nurse
should consider what characteristic of cancer pain?
A) Cancer pain is often related to the stress of the patient knowing she
has cancer and requires relatively low doses of pain medications along
with a high dose of anti-anxiety medications.
B) Cancer pain is always chronic and challenging to treat, so distraction
is often the best intervention.
C) Cancer pain can be acute or chronic and it typically requires
comparatively high doses of pain medications.
D) Cancer pain is often misreported by patients because of confusion
related to their disease process.
C) Cancer pain can be acute or chronic and it typically requires
comparatively high doses of pain medications.
-
The nurse caring for a 79-year-old man who has just returned to the
medicalsurgical unit following surgery for a total knee replacement
received report from the PACU. Part of the report had been passed on
from the preoperative assessment where it was noted that he has been
agitated in the past following opioid administration. What principle should
guide the nurses management of the patients pain?
