Layers of the Skin
This protein is deposited in skin cells as they move upward, making the skin stronger and water resistant.
What is Keratin?
This muscle contracts when a person is cold, producing goosebumps.
What is the arrector pili muscle?
This part of the brain serves as the body’s thermostat.
What is the hypothalamus?
This bluish discoloration of the skin occurs from poorly oxygenated blood.
What is cyanosis?
A patient arrives in the emergency department with extensive facial burns, singed nasal hairs, hoarseness, and soot around the mouth after a house fire. Using ABC priority nursing care, the nurse knows the first priority is to assess and protect this:
What is the airway?
This deepest skin layer contains adipose tissue and helps insulate the body from temperature changes.
What is the hypodermis (subcutaneous layer)?
A patient with chronic COPD develops thick, curved nails and enlarged fingertips. This finding is called:
What is clubbing?
This process of rapid involuntary muscle contraction helps generate heat.
What is shivering thermogenesis?
This condition causes yellowing of the skin and eyes from excess bilirubin.
A nurse is assessing a burn that appears white, leathery, and painless. The nurse correctly identifies this as which type of burn?
What is a third-degree (full-thickness) burn?
These cells found in the stratum basale produce the pigment responsible for skin color.
What are melanocytes?
Excess facial hair growth in women caused by increased testosterone is called:
What is hirsutism?
Newborns use this special fat to produce heat because they cannot shiver.
What is brown adipose tissue (BAT)?
A patient with severe blood loss appears pale and ashen. The nurse recognizes this skin color change occurs because decreased blood flow to the skin causes:
What is pallor?
A patient with second-degree burns presents with redness, severe pain, edema, and blister formation. The nurse knows this type of burn involves damage to these two skin layers:
What are the epidermis and dermis?
This outermost epidermal layer is made of about 30 layers of dead, flattened, keratinized cells.
What is stratum corneum?
This type of sweat gland is found mostly in the axillary and pubic regions and opens into hair follicles.
What are apocrine glands?
A patient with severe blood loss becomes pale, cool, and clammy. The nurse explains that this occurs because the body is trying to conserve heat by causing this response in the skin’s blood vessels:
What is vasoconstriction?
A patient becomes embarrassed during a conversation and suddenly develops redness and warmth across the face and neck. The nurse explains this occurs because blood vessels in the skin undergo this process:
What is vasodilation (flushing)?
A patient with a third-degree burn to the chest begins having difficulty breathing because the burned tissue is preventing chest expansion. The nurse anticipates this emergency procedure:
What is an escharotomy?
This outer skin layer is avascular and relies on diffusion from the dermis for nutrients.
What is the epidermis?
A patient receiving chemotherapy reports sudden thinning of scalp hair and patchy hair loss. The nurse explains this condition, commonly caused by medications or male-pattern baldness, is called:
What is alopecia?
A nurse is teaching a patient why rectal temperatures are often higher than oral temperatures. The nurse explains that rectal temperature reflects this type of body temperature found in the internal organs:
What is core temperature?
A patient reports gradually developing smooth, sharply defined white patches on the hands and face without pain or itching. The nurse explains this occurs from localized loss of melanin-producing cells and identifies the condition as:
What is vitiligo?
A patient with burns covering the head, neck, and one entire arm would have this estimated total body surface area burned using the Rule of Nines:
What is 18%?