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After teaching a group of nursing students about the half-life of a drug, the instructor determines the need for additional teaching when the students identify which of the following as true? Select all that apply:
- A. Half-life can be decreased in clients with renal disease.
- B. Half-life can help determine dosing frequency.
- C. Half-life does not change throughout a client's life.
- D. Liver disease can decrease half-life.
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Half-life is the measure of the rate at which drugs are removed from the body, and any difficulty in excreting a drug increases half-life, including liver or kidney disease or advanced age. Thus, A and C are incorrect statements requiring further teaching.
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Patients with cystic fibrosis are often prescribed enzyme replacement for pancreatic secretions. Each replacement drug has lipase, protease, and amylase components, but the drug is prescribed in units of:
- A. Lipase
- B. Protease
- C. Amylase
- D. Pancreatin
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: Pancreatic enzymes are dosed by lipase units, targeting fat malabsorption in cystic fibrosis.
A pharmacology student asks the instructor what an accurate description of a drug agonist is. What is the instructors best response?
- A. A drug that reacts with a receptor site on a cell preventing a reaction with another chemical on a different receptor site
- B. A drug that interferes with the enzyme systems that act as catalyst for different chemical reactions
- C. A drug that interacts directly with receptor sites to cause the same activity that a natural chemical would cause at that site
- D. A drug that reacts with receptor sites to block normal stimulation, producing no effect
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: Agonists are drugs that produce effects similar to those produced by naturally occurring neurotransmitters, hormones, or other substances found in the body. Noncompetitive antagonists are drugs that react with some receptor sites preventing the reaction of another chemical with a different receptor site. Drug-enzyme interactions interfere with the enzyme systems that stimulate various chemical reactions.
Jim is being treated for hypertension. Because he has a history of heart attack, the drug chosen is atenolol. Beta blockers treat hypertension by:
- A. Increasing heart rate to improve cardiac output
- B. Reducing vascular smooth muscle tone
- C. Increasing aldosterone-mediated volume activity
- D. Reducing aqueous humor production
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Beta blockers like atenolol reduce vascular tone and heart rate, lowering blood pressure.
Which of the following is true about procainamide and its dosing schedule?
- A. It produces bradycardia and should be used cautiously in patients with cardiac conditions that a slower heart rate might worsen.
- B. Gastrointestinal adverse effects are common so the drug should be taken with food.
- C. Adherence can be improved by using a sustained release formulation that can be given once daily.
- D. Doses of this drug should be taken evenly spaced around the clock to keep an even blood level.
Correct Answer: D
Rationale: Even spacing maintains steady procainamide levels.
When using the nursing process in medication therapy, what does it ensure?
- A. That medications are given at the right time
- B. That there is efficient and effective care
- C. That the right dose of the drug is given to the patient
- D. The right drug is given to the right patient at the right time
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: The nursing process ensures efficient and effective care by systematically addressing all aspects of medication therapy.