Medication Administration
This class of drugs is considered to have the highest potential for abuse and no accepted medical use in the U.S., and therefore cannot be prescribed by a nurse or provider.
What are Schedule I drugs?
This pain results from damage or dysfunction of the nervous system and is often described as burning, shooting, or tingling.
What is neuropathic pain?
Crying, irritability, and withdrawal are common behavioral signs of this emotional experience following a loss.
What is grief? (Table 42.1)
This unreliable form of thinking applies a fixed, oversimplified belief about all members of a group, ignoring individual differences and leading to unfair assumptions in healthcare.
What is a stereotype?
When caring for a patient experiencing terminal delirium or confusion near death, these interventions help provide comfort and reduce distress rather than increase agitation.
What are avoiding arguments, not reorienting the patient, and promoting rest?
This water-soluble vitamin may cause nerve damage to the limbs when taken in excess, leading to numbness, pain, and difficulty walking.
What is Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine)? (Table 35.3)
This type of pain is felt in a limb or body part that has been amputated or is no longer physically present.
What is phantom pain?
In this religion, a family member may remain with the body until burial, and the mourning period known as shiva begins after burial.
What is Judaism? (Box 42.1)
This process involves the exchange of cultural features through direct contact between groups, leading to changes in language, food, clothing, and more, while each group still remains distinct.
What is acculturation?
What term describes the cooling of the body after death due to the cessation of metabolism?
What is algor mortis?
This popular herbal remedy for depression and anxiety can dangerously interact with medications such as antidepressants, anticoagulants, birth control pills, and HIV drugs.
What is St. John’s wort? (Table 35.4)
Name at least three non-pharmacological techniques nurses can use to help manage a patient’s pain without medication.
What are methods like heat or cold therapy, relaxation techniques, distraction, massage, acupuncture, and guided imagery?
This group of clinical signs—including Cheyne-Stokes respirations, mottled extremities, decreased urine output, and cool skin—indicates this phase of the dying process.
What are the impending signs of death? (Table 42.3)
This term describes the process where nurses use population and research findings about cultures as a foundation but must ask specific questions and listen carefully to provide patient-centered care that respects unique family, gender, and cultural differences.
What is culturally competent care?
Before removing medical tubes or equipment from a deceased patient’s body, what must the nurse first confirm?
Whether an autopsy is required.
After a medication error, this is the nurse’s first priority before documenting or reporting the event.
What is assessing the patient and intervening to offset adverse effects?
This device allows patients to self-administer a preset dose of pain medication when needed.
What is a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pump?
After hearing the diagnosis, Maria says, "This can't be happening to me. There must be a mistake."
What is denial?
To help patients with a different primary language understand better, nurses should avoid speaking loudly and instead use this technique, which gives patients more time to process information.
What is speaking slowly or using a slower speech pattern?
Why are dentures or other prosthetics inserted into a deceased patient’s mouth before preparing the body for the morgue?
To maintain a normal anatomic appearance.
This normal age-related change can slow drug metabolism, requiring dosage adjustments and increasing the risk of adverse effects in elderly patients.
What is decreased renal and hepatic function? (Box 35.6)
These are commonly used to distract children during painful procedures and reduce anxiety.
What are toys, video games, or other forms of entertainment? (Box 36.2)
After months of grieving, Tom tells his family, "I’m ready to move on and live my life."
What is acceptance?
This key aspect of nursing assessment helps identify barriers to care, such as lack of insurance or employment, that may impact timely diagnosis and treatment, especially in culturally diverse and minority populations.
What is assessing a patient’s socioeconomic status, including employment, insurance, and education?
This procedure requires that all medical tubes and lines remain in place until it is completed, as mandated by law or family request.
What is an autopsy?