Nokea
For several years, a community health nurse has been working with a 78-year-old man who requires a wheelchair for mobility. The nurse is aware that the interactions between disabilities and aging are not yet clearly understood. This interaction varies, depending on what variable?
- A. Socioeconomics
- B. Ethnicity
- C. Education
- D. Pharmacotherapy
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: Large gaps exist in our understanding of the interaction between disabilities and aging, including how this interaction varies, depending on the type and degree of disability, and other factors such as socioeconomics and gender. Ethnicity, education, and pharmacotherapy are not identified as salient influences on this interaction.
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An 84-year-old patient has returned from the post-anesthetic care unit (PACU) following hip arthroplasty. The patient is oriented to name only. The patients family is very upset because, before having surgery, the patient had no cognitive deficits. The patient is subsequently diagnosed with postoperative delirium. What should the nurse explain to the patients family?
- A. This problem is self-limiting and there is nothing to worry about.
- B. Delirium involves a progressive decline in memory loss and overall cognitive function.
- C. Delirium of this type is treatable and her cognition will return to previous levels.
- D. This problem can be resolved by administering antidotes to the anesthetic that was used in surgery.
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: Surgery is a common cause of delirium in older adults. Delirium differs from other types of dementia in that delirium begins with confusion and progresses to disorientation. It has symptoms that are reversible with treatment, and, with treatment, is short term in nature. It is patronizing and inaccurate to reassure the family that there is nothing to worry about. The problem is not treated by the administration of antidotes to anesthetic.
An 83-year-old woman was diagnosed with Alzheimers disease 2 years ago and the disease has progressed at an increasing pace in recent months. The patient has lost 16 pounds over the past 3 months, leading to a nursing diagnosis of Imbalanced Nutrition: Less than Body Requirements. What intervention should the nurse include in this patients plan of care?
- A. Offer the patient rewards for finishing all the food on her tray.
- B. Offer the patient bland, low-salt foods to limit offensiveness.
- C. Offer the patient only one food item at a time to promote focused eating.
- D. Arrange for insertion of a gastrostomy tube and initiate enteral feeding.
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: To avoid any playing with food, one dish should be offered at a time. Foods should be familiar and appealing, not bland. Tube feeding is not likely necessary at this time and a reward system is unlikely to be beneficial.
A gerontologic nurse practitioner provides primary care for a large number of older adults who are living with various forms of cardiovascular disease. This nurse is well aware that heart disease is the leading cause of death in the aged. What is an age-related physiological change that contributes to this trend?
- A. Heart muscle and arteries lose their elasticity.
- B. Systolic blood pressure decreases.
- C. Resting heart rate decreases with age.
- D. Atrial-septal defects develop with age.
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: The leading cause of death for patients over the age of 65 years is cardiovascular disease. With age, heart muscle and arteries lose their elasticity, resulting in a reduced stroke volume. As a person ages, systolic blood pressure does not decrease, resting heart rate does not decrease, and the aged are not less likely to adopt a healthy lifestyle.
You are the nurse caring for an 85 -year-old patient who has been hospitalized for a fractured radius. The patients daughter has accompanied the patient to the hospital and asks you what her father can do for his very dry skin, which has become susceptible to cracking and shearing. What would be your best response?
- A. He should likely take showers rather than baths, if possible.
- B. Make sure that he applies sunscreen each morning.
- C. Dry skin is an age-related change that is largely inevitable.
- D. Try to help your father increase his intake of dairy products.
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: Showers are less drying than hot tub baths. Sun exposure should indeed be limited, but daily application of sunscreen is not necessary for many patients. Dry skin is an age-related change, but this does not mean that no appropriate interventions exist to address it. Dairy intake is unrelated.
You are the nurse caring for a 91-year-old patient admitted to the hospital for a fall. The patient complains of urge incontinence and tells you he most often falls when he tries to get to the bathroom in his home. You identify the nursing diagnosis of risk for falls related to impaired mobility and urinary incontinence. The older adults risk for falls is considered to be which of the following?
- A. The result of impaired cognitive functioning
- B. The accumulation of environmental hazards
- C. A geriatric syndrome
- D. An age-related health deficit
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: A number of problems commonly experienced by the elderly are becoming recognized as geriatric syndromes. These conditions do not fit into discrete disease categories. Examples include frailty, delirium, falls, urinary incontinence, and pressure ulcers. Impaired cognitive functioning, environmental hazards in the home, and an age-related health deficit may all play a part in the episodes in this patients life that led to falls, but they are not diagnoses and are, therefore, incorrect.