) Mental Health Concepts
| 100% Correct Questions & Answers
– Galen
:
Mr. Brown was playing soccer and hurt his right knee. It appears swollen. What is the first
assessment you should make?
a. Palpate for crepitus in the knee.
b. Compare the swollen knee with the other knee.
c. Assess active ROM in the knee.
d. Feel the knee for warmth.
B. Compare the swollen knee with the other knee.
Rationale: The first step is inspection. The first thing to do is to compare one knee with the other
for symmetry. All the other answers are procedures for assessing joints, which may be indicated
but do not represent the first step that the nurse should take.
Mrs. Johnson, a transcriptionist, reports pain and burning in her right hand. What assessment
procedures should you perform next?
a. Trendelenburg and drawer signs
b. McMurray and Thomas tests
c. Bulge test and ballottement
,d. Phalen and Tinel tests
D. Phalen and Tinel tests.
Rationale: Both Phalen and Tinel signs are specific findings with carpal tunnel syndrome. Based
on Mrs. Johnson's occupation, she is at risk for this problem. Bulge and ballottement tests look
for effusion in the knee joint. The McMurray test assesses for meniscus tears in the knee. The
Thomas test is used to identify flexion contracture of the hip. The Drawer test is for knee injury
and the Trendelenberg test is for hip disease.
Which of the following assessment tasks can you appropriately delegate to an unlicensed care
provider?
a. Height, weight, and vital signs
b. Active and passive ROM
c. History of current complaint
d. Muscle strength
A. Height, weight, and vital signs.
Rationale: Nurses frequently delegate the taking of height, weight, and vital signs to unlicensed
care providers. The other items are parts of assessment that cannot be delegated to unlicensed
personnel.
When doing an assessment of the spine of an older adult, you can expect to see which variation?
a. Lordosis
b. Torticollis
c. Kyphosis
,d. Scoliosis
C. Kyphosis.
Rationale: Many older adults normally have an exaggerated forward curve of the thoracic spine,
which may appear even more curved because of fat pad deposits.
The patient's muscle tone is hypertonic so the muscles are stiff and the movements are awkward.
The nurse documents these findings as
a. atony.
b. tremors.
c. spasticity.
d. fasciculation.
C. Spasticity.
Rationale: Atony is the lack of tone or strength, tremors are involuntary contractions of muscles,
and fasciculation is involuntary twitching.
. To correctly document that ROM in the fingers is full and active, you would write that the
patient can
a. perform rotation, lateral flexion, and hyperextension.
b. make a fist, spread and close fingers, and do finger-thumb opposition.
c. touch finger to own nose and to examiner's finger back and forth.
d. perform supination, pronation, and lateral deviation.
B. Make a fist, spread and close fingers, and do finger-thumb opposition.
, Rationale: Finger movements are flexion, extension, abduction, and adduction. The fingers do
not perform rotation or lateral flexion. Touching the finger to the nose is part of neurological
assessment, not range-of-motion (ROM) testing. The wrist performs supination, pronation, and
lateral deviation.
You note that an adolescent has uneven shoulder height. To differentiate functional from
structural scoliosis, you ask the patient to
a. stand up straight while you check the height of the iliac crest.
b. flex the elbow and pull against your resistance.
c. shrug both shoulders while you provide resistance.
d. bend forward at the waist while you palpate the spine.
D. Bend forward at the waist while you palpate the spine.
Rationale: Checking the height of the iliac crest will provide information about scoliosis but will
not differentiate functional from structural. With functional scoliosis, the spine straightens with
bending. This problem usually is associated with uneven leg length.
A patient reports that a previous right hip replacement is suddenly painful. Which hip assessment
technique should you omit?
a. Adduction
b. Hyperextension
c. Extension
d. Circumduction
A. Adduction.