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A patient with a recent diagnosis of ITP has asked the nurse why the care team has not chosen to administer platelets, stating, â??I have low platelets, so why not give me a transfusion of exactly what I'm missing?â?? How should the nurse best respond?
- A. Transfused platelets usually aren't beneficial because they're rapidly destroyed in the body.
- B. A platelet transfusion often blunts your body's own production of platelets even further.
- C. Finding a matching donor for a platelet transfusion is exceedingly difficult.
- D. A very small percentage of the platelets in a transfusion are actually functional.
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: Despite extremely low platelet counts, platelet transfusions are usually avoided. Transfusions tend to be ineffective not because the platelets are nonfunctional but because the patient's antiplatelet antibodies bind with the transfused platelets, causing them to be destroyed. Matching the patient's blood type is not usually necessary for a platelet transfusion. Platelet transfusions do not exacerbate low platelet production.
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A nurse is providing discharge education to a patient who has recently been diagnosed with a bleeding disorder. What topic should the nurse prioritize when teaching this patient?
- A. Avoiding buses, subways, and other crowded, public sites
- B. Avoiding activities that carry a risk for injury
- C. Keeping immunizations current
- D. Avoiding foods high in vitamin K
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Patients with bleeding disorders need to understand the importance of avoiding activities that increase the risk of bleeding, such as contact sports. Immunizations involve injections and may be contraindicated for some patients. Patients with bleeding disorders do not need to normally avoid crowds. Foods high in vitamin K may be beneficial, not detrimental.
A nurse is caring for a patient with severe anemia. The patient is tachycardic and complains of dizziness and exertional dyspnea. The nurse knows that in an effort to deliver more blood to hypoxic tissue, the workload on the heart is increased. What signs and symptoms might develop if this patient goes into heart failure?
- A. Peripheral edema
- B. Nausea and vomiting
- C. Migraine
- D. Fever
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: Cardiac status must be carefully assessed in patients with anemia. When the hemoglobin level is low, the heart attempts to compensate by pumping faster and harder in an effort to deliver more blood to hypoxic tissue. This increased cardiac workload can result in such symptoms as tachycardia, palpitations, dyspnea, dizziness, orthopnea, and exertional dyspnea. Heart failure may eventually develop, as evidenced by an enlarged heart (cardiomegaly) and liver (hepatomegaly), and by peripheral edema. Nausea, migraine, and fever are not associated with heart failure.
A patient's low prothrombin time (PT) was attributed to a vitamin K deficiency and the patient's PT normalized after administration of vitamin K. When performing discharge education in an effort to prevent recurrence, what should the nurse emphasize?
- A. The need for adequate nutrition
- B. The need to avoid NSAIDs
- C. The need for constant access to factor concentrate
- D. The need for meticulous hygiene
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: Vitamin K deficiency is often the result of a nutritional deficit. NSAIDs do not influence vitamin K synthesis and clotting factors are not necessary to treat or prevent a vitamin K deficiency. Hygiene is not related to the onset or prevention of vitamin K deficiency.
A patient with a history of atrial fibrillation has contacted the clinic saying that she has accidentally overdosed on her prescribed warfarin (Coumadin). The nurse should recognize the possible need for what antidote?
- A. IVIG
- B. Factor X
- C. Vitamin K
- D. Factor VIII
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: Vitamin K is administered as an antidote for warfarin toxicity.
A patient with a pulmonary embolism is being treated with a heparin infusion. What diagnostic finding suggests to the nurse that treatment is effective?
- A. The patient's PT is within reference ranges.
- B. Arterial blood sampling tests positive for the presence of factor XIII.
- C. The patient's platelet level is below 100,000/mm3.
- D. The patient's activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) is 1.5 to 2.5 times the control value.
Correct Answer: D
Rationale: The therapeutic effect of heparin is monitored by serial measurements of the aPTT; the dose is adjusted to maintain the range at 1.5 to 2.5 times the laboratory control. Heparin dosing is not determined on the basis of platelet levels, the presence or absence of clotting factors, or PT levels.