Nokea
The nurse needs to take the blood pressure of a small child. Of the cuffs available, one is too large and one is too small. The best nursing action is which?
- A. Use the small cuff.
- B. Use the large cuff.
- C. Use either cuff using the palpation method.
- D. Wait to take the blood pressure until a proper cuff can be located.
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: If blood pressure measurement is indicated and the appropriate size cuff is not available, the next larger size is used. The nurse recognizes that this may be a falsely low blood pressure. Using the small cuff will give an incorrectly high reading. The palpation method will not improve the inaccuracy inherent in the cuff.
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The nurse is taking a health history of an adolescent. Which best describes how the chief complaint should be determined?
- A. Request a detailed listing of symptoms.
- B. Ask the adolescent, Why did you come here today?
- C. Interview the parent away from the adolescent to determine the chief complaint.
- D. Use what the adolescent says to determine, in correct medical terminology, what the problem is.
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: The chief complaint is the specific reason for the childs visit to the clinic, office, or hospital. Because the adolescent is the focus of the history, this is an appropriate way to determine the chief complaint. Requesting a detailed list of symptoms makes it difficult to determine the chief complaint. The parent and adolescent may be interviewed separately, but the nurse should determine the reason the adolescent is seeking attention at this time. The chief complaint is usually written in the words that the parent or adolescent uses to describe the reason for seeking help.
Which parameter correlates best with measurements of total muscle mass?
- A. Height
- B. Weight
- C. Skinfold thickness
- D. Upper arm circumference
Correct Answer: D
Rationale: Upper arm circumference is correlated with measurements of total muscle mass. Muscle serves as the bodys major protein reserve and is considered an index of the bodys protein stores. Height is reflective of past nutritional status. Weight is indicative of current nutritional status. Skinfold thickness is a measurement of the bodys fat content.
During an otoscopic examination on an infant, in which direction is the pinna pulled?
- A. Up and back
- B. Up and forward
- C. Down and back
- D. Down and forward
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: In infants and toddlers, the ear canal is curved upward. To visualize the ear canal, it is necessary to pull the pinna down and back to the 6 to 9 oclock range to straighten the canal. In children older than age 3 years and adults, the canal curves downward and forward. The pinna is pulled up and back to the 10 oclock position. Up and forward and down and forward are positions that do not facilitate visualization of the ear canal.
Where in the health history does a record of immunizations belong?
- A. History
- B. Present illness
- C. Review of systems
- D. Physical assessment
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: The history contains information relating to all previous aspects of the childs health status. The immunizations are appropriately included in the history. The present illness, review of systems, and physical assessment are not appropriate places to record the immunization status.
Which explains why correcting strabismus in young children is important?
- A. Color vision may be lost.
- B. Amblyopia, a type of blindness, may result.
- C. Epicanthal folds may develop in the affected eye.
- D. Corneal light reflexes may fall symmetrically within each pupil.
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: By the age of 3 to 4 months, infants are able to fixate on one visual field with both eyes simultaneously. In strabismus, or cross-eye, one eye deviates from the point of fixation. If misalignment is constant, the weak eye becomes lazy, and the brain eventually suppresses the image produced from that eye. If strabismus is not detected and corrected by age 4 to 6 years, blindness from disuse, known as amblyopia, may occur. Color vision is not the only concern. Epicanthal folds are not related to amblyopia. In children with strabismus, the corneal light reflex will not be symmetric for each eye.