Nokea
A clinic nurse is working with a patient who has a long-standing diagnosis of polycythemia vera. How can the nurse best gauge the course of the patients disease?
- A. Document the color of the patients palms and face during each visit.
- B. Follow the patients erythrocyte sedimentation rate over time.
- C. Document the patients response to erythropoietin injections.
- D. Follow the trends of the patients hematocrit.
Correct Answer: D
Rationale: The course of polycythemia vera can be best ascertained by monitoring the patients hematocrit, which should remain below 45%. Erythropoietin injections would exacerbate the condition. Skin tone should be observed, but is a subjective assessment finding. The patients ESR is not relevant to the course of the disease.
You may also like to solve these questions
A patient with a myelodysplastic syndrome is being treated on the medical unit. What assessment finding should prompt the nurse to contact the patients primary care provider?
- A. The patient is experiencing a frontal lobe headache.
- B. The patient has an episode of urinary incontinence.
- C. The patient has an oral temperature of 37.5 C (99.5 F).
- D. The patients SpO2 is 91% on room air.
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: Because the patient with MDS is at a high risk for infection, any early signs of infection must be reported promptly. The nurse should address each of the listed assessment findings, but none is as direct a threat to the patients immediate health as an infection.
A patient with advanced leukemia is responding poorly to treatment. The nurse finds the patient tearful and trying to express his feelings, but he is clearly having difficulty. What is the nurses most appropriate action?
- A. Tell him that you will give him privacy and leave the room.
- B. Offer to call pastoral care.
- C. Ask if he would like you to sit with him while he collects his thoughts.
- D. Tell him that you can understand how hes feeling.
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: Providing emotional support and discussing the uncertain future are crucial. Leaving is incorrect because leaving the patient doesnt show acceptance of his feelings. Offering to call pastoral care may be helpful for some patients but should be done after the nurse has spent time with the patient. Telling the patient that you understand how hes feeling is inappropriate because it doesnt help him express his feelings.
A nurse is planning the care of a patient who has been diagnosed with essential thrombocythemia (ET). What nursing diagnosis should the nurse prioritize when choosing interventions?
- A. Risk for Ineffective Tissue Perfusion
- B. Risk for Imbalanced Fluid Volume
- C. Risk for Ineffective Breathing Pattern
- D. Risk for Ineffective Thermoregulation
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: Patients with ET are at risk for hypercoagulation and consequent ineffective tissue perfusion. Fluid volume, breathing, and thermoregulation are not normally affected.
An adult patient has presented to the health clinic with a complaint of a firm, painless cervical lymph node. The patient denies any recent infectious diseases. What is the nurses most appropriate response to the patients complaint?
- A. Call 911.
- B. Promptly refer the patient for medical assessment.
- C. Facilitate a radiograph of the patients neck and have the results forwarded to the patients primary care provider.
- D. Encourage the patient to track the size of the lymph node and seek care in 1 week.
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Hodgkin lymphoma usually begins as an enlargement of one or more lymph nodes on one side of the neck. The individual nodes are painless and firm but not hard. Prompt medical assessment is necessary if a patient has this presentation. However, there is no acute need to call 911. Delaying care for 1 week could have serious consequences and x-rays are not among the common diagnostic tests.
A nurse practitioner is assessing a patient who has a fever, malaise, and a white blood cell count that is elevated. Which of the following principles should guide the nurses management of the patients care?
- A. There is a need for the patient to be assessed for lymphoma.
- B. Infection is the most likely cause of the patients change in health status.
- C. The patient is exhibiting signs and symptoms of leukemia.
- D. The patient should undergo diagnostic testing for multiple myeloma.
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Leukocytosis is most often the result of infection. It is only considered pathologic (and suggestive of leukemia) if it is persistent and extreme. Multiple myeloma and lymphoma are not likely causes of this constellation of symptoms.