Nokea
A patient who has had an amputation is being cared for by a multidisciplinary rehabilitation team. What is the primary goal of this multidisciplinary team?
- A. Maximize the efficiency of care
- B. Ensure that the patients health care is holistic
- C. Facilitate the patients adjustment to a new body image
- D. Promote the patients highest possible level of function
Correct Answer: D
Rationale: The multidisciplinary rehabilitation team helps the patient achieve the highest possible level of function and participation in life activities. The team is not primarily motivated by efficiency, the need for holistic care, or the need to foster the patients body image, despite the fact that each of these are valid goals.
You may also like to solve these questions
Six weeks after an above-the-knee amputation (AKA), a patient returns to the outpatient office for a routine postoperative checkup. During the nurses assessment, the patient reports symptoms of phantom pain. What should the nurse tell the patient to do to reduce the discomfort of the phantom pain?
- A. Apply intermittent hot compresses to the area of the amputation.
- B. Avoid activity until the pain subsides.
- C. Take opioid analgesics as ordered.
- D. Elevate the level of the amputation site.
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: Opioid analgesics may be effective in relieving phantom pain. Heat, immobility, and elevation are not noted to relieve this form of pain.
An emergency department patient is diagnosed with a hip dislocation. The patients family is relieved that the patient has not suffered a hip fracture, but the nurse explains that this is still considered to be a medical emergency. What is the rationale for the nurses statement?
- A. The longer the joint is displaced, the more difficult it is to get it back in place.
- B. The patients pain will increase until the joint is realigned.
- C. Dislocation can become permanent if the process of bone remodeling begins.
- D. Avascular necrosis may develop at the site of the dislocation if it is not promptly resolved.
Correct Answer: D
Rationale: If a dislocation or subluxation is not reduced immediately, avascular necrosis (AVN) may develop. Bone remodeling does not take place because a fracture has not occurred. Realignment does not become more difficult with time and pain would subside with time, not become worse.
A rehabilitation nurse is working with a patient who has had a below-the-knee amputation. The nurse knows the importance of the patients active participation in self-care. In order to determine the patients ability to be an active participant in self-care, the nurse should prioritize assessment of what variable?
- A. The patients attitude
- B. The patients learning style
- C. The patients nutritional status
- D. The patients presurgical level of function
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: Amputation of an extremity affects the patients ability to provide adequate self-care. The patient is encouraged to be an active participant in self-care. The patient and the nurse need to maintain positive attitudes and to minimize fatigue and frustration during the learning process. Balanced nutrition and the patients learning style are important variables in the rehabilitation process but the patients attitude is among the most salient variables. The patients presurgical level of function may or may not affect participation in rehabilitation.
A nurse is caring for a patient who has suffered an unstable thoracolumbar fracture. Which of the following is the priority during nursing care?
- A. Preventing infection
- B. Maintaining spinal alignment
- C. Maximizing function
- D. Preventing increased intracranial pressure
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Patients with an unstable fracture must have their spine in alignment at all times in order to prevent neurologic damage. This is a greater threat, and higher priority, than promoting function and preventing infection, even though these are both valid considerations. Increased ICP is not a high risk.
A patient with a simple arm is receiving discharge education from the nurse. What would the nurse instruct the patient to do?
- A. Elevate the affected extremity to shoulder level when at rest.
- B. Engage in exercises that strengthen the unaffected muscles.
- C. Apply topical anesthetics to accessible skin surfaces as needed.
- D. Avoid using analgesics so that further damage is not masked.
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: The nurse will encourage the patient to engage in exercises that strengthen the unaffected muscles. Comfort measures may include appropriate use of analgesics and elevation of the affected extremity to the heart level. Topical anesthetics are not typically used.