Nokea
The OR nurse is providing care for a 25-year-old major trauma patient who has been involved in a motorcycle accident. The nurse should know that the patient is at increased risk for what complication of surgery?
- A. Respiratory depression
- B. Hypothermia
- C. Anesthesia awareness
- D. Moderate sedation
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: The Joint Commission has issued an alert regarding the phenomenon of patients being partially awake while under general anesthesia (referred to as anesthesia awareness). Patients at greatest risk of anesthesia awareness are cardiac, obstetric, and major trauma patients. This patient does not likely face a heightened risk of respiratory depression or hypothermia. Moderate sedation is not a complication.
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A circulating nurse provides care in a surgical department that has multiple surgeries scheduled for the day. The nurse should know to monitor which patient most closely during the intraoperative period because of the increased risk for hypothermia?
- A. A 74-year-old woman with a low body mass index
- B. A 17-year-old boy with traumatic injuries
- C. A 45-year-old woman having an abdominal hysterectomy
- D. A 13-year-old girl undergoing craniofacial surgery
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: Elderly patients are at greatest risk during surgical procedures because they have an impaired ability to increase their metabolic rate and impaired thermoregulatory mechanisms, which increase susceptibility to hypothermia. The other patients are likely at a lower risk.
A patient will be undergoing a total hip arthroplasty later in the day and it is anticipated that the patient may require blood transfusion during surgery. How can the nurse best ensure the patients safety if a blood transfusion is required?
- A. Prime IV tubing with a unit of blood and keep it on hold.
- B. Check that the patients electrolyte levels have been assessed preoperatively.
- C. Ensure that the patient has had a current cross-match.
- D. Keep the blood on standby and warmed to body temperature.
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: Few patients undergoing an elective procedure require blood transfusion, but those undergoing high-risk procedures may require an intraoperative transfusion. The circulating nurse anticipates this need, checks that blood has been cross-matched and held in reserve, and is prepared to administer blood. Storing the blood at body temperature or in IV tubing would result in spoilage and potential infection.
As an intraoperative nurse, you know that the patients emotional state can influence the outcome of his or her surgical procedure. How would you best reinforce the patients ability to influence outcome?
- A. Teach the patient strategies for distraction.
- B. Pair the patient with another patient who has better coping strategies.
- C. Incorporate cultural and religious considerations, as appropriate.
- D. Give the patient antianxiety medication.
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: Because the patients emotional state remains a concern, the care initiated by preoperative nurses is continued by the intraoperative nursing staff that provides the patient with information and reassurance. The nurse supports coping strategies and reinforces the patients ability to influence outcomes by encouraging active participation in the plan of care incorporating cultural, ethnic, and religious considerations, as appropriate. Buddying a patient is normally inappropriate and distraction may or may not be effective. Nonpharmacologic measures should be prioritized.
The nurse is packing a patients abdominal wound with sterile, half-inch Iodoform gauze. During the procedure, the nurse drops some of the gauze onto the patients abdomen 2 inches (5 cm) away from the wound. What should the nurse do?
- A. Apply povidone-iodine (Betadine) to that section of the gauze and continue packing the wound.
- B. Pick up the gauze and continue packing the wound after irrigating the abdominal wound with Betadine solution.
- C. Continue packing the wound and inform the physician that an antibiotic is needed.
- D. Discard the gauze packing and repack the wound with new Iodoform gauze.
Correct Answer: D
Rationale: Sterile surfaces or articles may touch other sterile surfaces or articles and remain sterile; contact with unsterile objects at any point renders a sterile area contaminated. The sterile gauze became contaminated when it was dropped on the patients abdomen. It should be discarded and new Iodoform gauze should be used to pack the wound. Betadine should not be used in the wound unless ordered.
As a perioperative nurse, you know that the National Patient Safety Goals have the potential to improve patient outcomes in a wide variety of health care settings. Which of these Goals has the most direct relevance to the OR?
- A. Improve safety related to medication use
- B. Reduce the risk of patient harm resulting from falls
- C. Reduce the incidence of health care-associated infections
- D. Reduce the risk of fires
Correct Answer: D
Rationale: The National Patient Safety Goals all pertain to the perioperative areas, but the one with the most direct relevance to the OR is the reduction of the risk of surgical fires.