Communication Techniques/ Collecting Subjective Data
Why is it important to have good communication skills when interviewing patients?
A. To obtain accurate data that reveals the patient's health status
B. To avoid insulting the patient by sitting too close
C. To help the healthcare provider to make an accurate medical diagnosis
D. To avoid placing inaccurate information on the medical record
A. To obtain accurate data that reveal the patient's health status
Rationale: It is important to have good communication skills to obtain accurate data regarding the patient's current health status. Answer B address the patient's comfort level and the provider should sit about 3 ft away from the patient. Answers C and D are important to collect data but do not answer the question about communication skills.
Which of the following is an example of an open-ended question?
A. How old are you?
B. Do you have pain in your arm?
C. In which year did you have the abdominal surgery?
D. How are you feeling today?
D. How are you feeling today? Ask how the patient feels to begin the conversation and to discuss symptoms the patient is experiencing.
The other answers need one or two word answers and do not stimulate conversation.
The sound generated by tapping on the chest wall over normal lung tissue is called?
A. Percussion
B. Tympany
C. Resonance
D. Dullness
Tympany is the sound generated over air-filled viscera. Dullness is the sound generated over a dense organ.
The term prehypertension is defined as a blood pressure between which of the following ranges?
A. 90/60-110/60mm Hg
B. 120/80-139/90mm Hg
C. 150/90-160/100mm Hg
D. 160/100-180/100mm Hg
B. Prehypertension is defined as a blood pressure in the range of 120-139/80-90
The arterial sounds the healthcare provider hears through the stethoscope when taking a patient's blood pressure are called?
A. Normal sounds
B. Korotkoff sounds
C. Pulse sounds
D. Carotid sounds
B. Korotkoff sounds are the arterial sounds the healthcare provider hears through the stethoscope when taking a patient's blood pressure.
When is a focused assessment performed?
A. When the patient is at risk of dying and life-saving measure are initiated.
B. When a complete history and physical examination is needed.
C. After a health problem is identified and new concerns are discussed.
D. To address specific health problems that require immediate attention.
D. The focused assessment addressed specific health problems that need immediate attention.
An emergency assessment is performed when the patient is at risk of death and actions are initiated to prevent serious consequences to the patient. A complete history and physical examination is considered a comprehensive assessment. A follow-up assessment is performed after a health problem has been identified and any new or present concerns are addressed.
Why is it important to facilitate the conversation when interviewing a patient?
A. to obtain accurate responses from the patient
B. to indicate an interest in the conversation
C. to allow the patient to gather their thoughts
D. To avoid misleading the patient
B. to indicate an interest in the conversation. Facilitate the conversation by saying go on or nodding the head to show an interest in the conversation.
Silence is used to help the patient gather thoughts. The patient can be misled by asking imposing questions ex: Did you quit smoking? It is important to obtain accurate information from the patient but facilitation does not guarantee it.
During light palpation, the fingers are depressed:
A. greater than 1 cm
B. about 2-5 cm
C. 1 cm or less
D. greater than 5 cm
During deep palpation, the fingers are depressed 2.5-5cm.
A patient's temperature can vary with which of the following factors? Select all that apply
A. Stress
B. Age
C. Time of day
D. Gender
E. Eye color
A. B. C. D. Affect the patients core body temperature
The patients temperature in the early morning is lower than average and is higher than average in the late afternoon or evening. The rectal temperature is higher than the oral temperature by 1 degree F. The axillary temperature is usually lower than the oral and rectal temperature by 1 degree F. the tympanic and temporal temperature is higher than the average oral temperature by 1 degree F. Exercise, pregnancy, menstrual cycle, emotional stress, age, gender, and the patient's state of physical health can alter temperature.
Which of the following is the least reliable method for taking a patient's temperature?
A. Temporal
B. Tympanic
C. Oral
D. Axillary
D. The axillary method is the least reliable method to take the patient's temperature. The other methods are more reliable if done correctly.
At which phase of the nursing process does the provider discuss goals that the patient agrees are important?
A. Assessment
B. Planning
C. Implementation
D. Evaluation
B. Planning is when the patient and the provider discuss short-and-long term goals that are mutually agreed upon.
Assessment is when subjective and objective data are collected. Implementation is initiating the plan. Evaluation is when the patient and the healthcare provider discuss if the plan was successful. The healthcare provider returns to step one (assessment) if the plan was not successful.
The patient's use of tobacco products is documented in which area of the subjective assessment?
A. Perception of Illness
B. Review of Systems
C. Social history
D. Emergency assessment
C. The social history is where the healthcare provider will document the patient's habits: tobacco, alcohol, illicit drug use, exercise, and diet patterns.
During the inspection phase of an objective assessment, it is important to
A. perform inspection quickly to expedite the examination
B. determine the texture of the skin
C. note abnormal sounds or odors
D. use the diaphragm of the stethoscope
C. During the inspection phase of the assessment, take the time to look, listen, and smell.
Palpation is a method used to determine texture of the skin and auscultation is a method that uses a stethoscope to listen to sounds generated by the body.
The healthcare provider is preparing to take the patient's blood pressure and understands that the patient should initially
A. rest for 5 minutes
B. drink 4 oz of water
C. elevated the legs
D. lie in the prone position
A. The patient should initially rest for 5 minutes before the healthcare provider takes the blood pressure for accurate reading
The amplitude of the normal pulse is
A. 1+
B. 2+
C. 3+
D. 4+
B. 2+ is the normal amplitude of the pulse. The abnormal pulse ranges are 0 is no pulse 1+ is weak pulse, thready pulse; 3+ is a bounding pulse.
When performing the review of system (ROS), it is important to remember:
A. To include objective data in the medical record
B. To ask the patient questions in easy to understand language
C. To obtain a family history of some complaints
D. Ask close-ended questions to obtain accurate information.
B. Ask the patient questions in language the patient understands but document in proper medical terminology in the medical chart.
Objective data and family history are not included in the ROS. Open-ended questions assist in obtaining the ROS to obtain accurate patient symptoms.
What is obtained from the physical examination?
A. Patient's complaints of pain
B. Tenderness elicited over an area
C. Patient's date of birth
D. History of surgeries
B. The examiner must perform the objective examination and can elicit pain or tenderness by palpation over body areas. The other answers are stated in the subject examination.
The most commonly used method of percussion is:
A. direct
B. Blunt
C. Indirect
D. Bimanual
C. The most commonly used method of percussion is indirect or mediate percussion
A. bradypnea
B. eupnea
C. tachypnea
D. dyspnea
C. Respirations greater than 20 breaths per minute in the adult is defined as tachypnea.
Bradypnea is respirations less than 12 breaths per minute and eupnea is between 12 and 20 breaths per minute. Dyspnea is when the patient is having difficulty breathing
The patient should not be aware of the healthcare provider taking the respiratory rate to avoid
A. increased anxiety of the patient
B. altering the rate of the respirations
C. changing the pulse rate
D. bilateral chest expansion
B. The healthcare provider should count the patient's respiratory rate without the patient's awareness to avoid altering the rate of the respirations.
The problem solving tool the healthcare provider uses to develop a plan of care with the patient is called?
A. Initial comprehensive assessment
B. Nursing process
C. ROS
D. Intuition
B. The nursing process is a problem solving tool used to develop a plan of care for the patient.
The initial comprehensive assessment is used to collect subjective and objective data and is usually performed in the first meeting with the patient. The ROS is a list of questions to ask to obtain information about symptoms of a specific body system. Intuition is knowledge obtained by learning about the disease process and by experience of taking care of patient with specific illnesses, and a sense of what may happen next when the patient is experiencing symptoms
It is important for the healthcare provider to avoid documenting personal opinions about the patient because:
A. the patient will sue the provider
B. it avoids personal bias
C. it is required by all institutions
D. it avoids redundancy
B. The healthcare provider should not document personal opinions about the patient to avoid personal bias and judgement of the patient.
The healthcare provider is utilizing percussion and understands that creates the strongest intensity or loudest tone?
A. Air
B. Fluid
C. Solid
D. Mass
A. Air. As the density increases, the intensity of a sound softens. Thus air would create the loudest sound/tone
The healthcare provider takes the patient's blood pressure lying, sitting, and standing, and obtains a difference of 30mm Hg from the lying to standing position. The healthcare provider recognized that this could be caused by:
A. hypervolemia
B. Asthma
C. Decreased blood volume
D. Ethnicity
C. Decreased blood volume or hypovolemia can cause a change in the blood pressure when the patient changes position from lying to sitting or standing.
In what location are these temperatures taken? Make the name of the route with the location.
1. Oral A. Armpit
2. Tympanic B. Mouth
3. Axillary C. Forehead
4. Temporal D. Ear
1. B
2. D
3. A
4. C