The nurse is providing support to a family that is experiencing anticipatory grief related to their childs imminent death. What statement by the nurse is therapeutic?
- A. Your other children need you to be strong.
- B. You have been through a very tough time.
- C. His suffering is over; you should be happy.
- D. God never gives us more than we can handle.
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Acknowledging the family?s tough experience validates their grief in a nonjudgmental way. Suggesting strength for other children, implying happiness over the death, or referencing God may dismiss their emotions or conflict with their beliefs.
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The nurse is making a home visit 48 hours after the death of an infant from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). What intervention is an appropriate objective for this visit?
- A. Give contraceptive information.
- B. Provide information on the grief process.
- C. Reassure parents that SIDS is not likely to occur again.
- D. Thoroughly investigate the home situation to verify SIDS as the cause of death.
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Providing information on the grief process helps parents navigate their loss, offering support and resources. Contraceptive information is inappropriate, reassuring about SIDS recurrence is premature and false, and investigating the home is not the nurse?s role post-death.
A 12-year-old boy is in the final phase of dying from leukemia. He tells the nurse who is giving him opiates for pain that his grandfather is waiting for him. How should the nurse interpret this situation?
- A. The boy is experiencing side effects of the opiates.
- B. The boy is making an attempt to comfort his parents.
- C. He is experiencing hallucinations resulting from brain anoxia.
- D. He is demonstrating readiness and acceptance that death is near.
Correct Answer: D
Rationale: Visions of loved ones, like the grandfather, are common near death and indicate the child?s acceptance and lack of fear. These are not opiate side effects, attempts to comfort parents, or due to brain anoxia, as there?s no evidence of hypoxia.
A 12-year-old child has failed several courses of chemotherapy. An experimental drug is available that his parents want him to receive. He has told his parents and the oncologists that he is ready to die and does not want any more chemotherapy. The nurse recognizes what to be true?
- A. Parents and child both need support in the decision making.
- B. Twelve-year-olds are minors and cannot give consent or refuse treatments.
- C. The oncologists needs to make the decision because the parents and child disagree.
- D. The parents have the right and responsibility to make decisions for their children younger than age 18 years.
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: Supporting both parents and child in resolving this conflict respects the child?s autonomy, especially given the poor prognosis. Twelve-year-olds can assent or refuse under certain conditions, oncologists guide but don?t decide, and parental authority may be limited if the child?s decision is informed and verified.
When is an autopsy required?
- A. In the case of a suspected suicide
- B. When a person has a known terminal illness
- C. With a hospice patient who dies at home
- D. With the victim of a motor vehicle collision
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: An autopsy is required in cases of suspected suicide, unexplained, or violent deaths to determine the cause. It is optional for terminal illnesses, hospice deaths, or motor vehicle collisions unless the cause is unclear, and family consent may be sought.
What explanation best describes how preschoolers react to the death of a loved one?
- A. Grief is acute but does not last long at this age.
- B. Children this age are too young to have a concept of death.
- C. Preschoolers may feel guilty and responsible for the death.
- D. They express grief in the same way that the adults in the preschoolers life are expressing grief.
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: Due to egocentric thinking, preschoolers may feel guilty, believing they caused the death. They have a limited concept of death as a temporary state, their grief may involve regression or joking, and their expressions differ from adults, reflecting their developmental stage.
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