You are a floor nurse caring for a patient with alcohol withdrawal syndrome. What would be an appropriate nursing action to minimize the potential for hallucinations?
- A. Engage the patient in a process of health education.
- B. Administer opioid analgesics as ordered.
- C. Place the patient in a private, well-lit room.
- D. Provide television or a radio as therapeutic distraction
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: A quiet, well-lit private room reduces sensory overload, minimizing hallucinations in alcohol withdrawal. Analgesics or media may worsen symptoms, and education is inappropriate during acute withdrawal.
You may also like to solve these questions
A patient is experiencing respiratory insufficiency and cannot maintain spontaneous respirations. The nurse suspects that the physician will perform which of the following actions?
- A. Insert an oropharyngeal airway.
- B. Perform the jaw thrust maneuver.
- C. Perform endotracheal intubation.
- D. Perform a cricothyroidotomy.
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: Endotracheal intubation ensures airway patency in respiratory insufficiency. Oropharyngeal airways are for spontaneous breathing, jaw thrust doesn't secure an airway, and cricothyroidotomy is a last resort.
A patient with a history of major depression is brought to the ED by her parents. Which of the following nursing actions is most appropriate?
- A. Noting that symptoms of physical illness are not relevant to the current diagnosis
- B. Asking the patient if she has ever thought about taking her own life
- C. Conducting interviews in a brief and direct manner
- D. Arranging for the patient to spend time alone to consider her feelings
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Screening for suicidal ideation is critical in depression to assess risk. Physical symptoms are relevant, interviews should be empathetic, and leaving the patient alone risks suicide.
A patient with multiple trauma is brought to the ED by ambulance after a fall while rock climbing. What is a responsibility of the ED nurse in this patient's care?
- A. Intubating the patient
- B. Notifying family members
- C. Ensuring IV access
- D. Delivering specimens to the laboratory
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: Ensuring IV access is a key ED nursing role for administering fluids or medications. Intubation is for specialized providers, family notification is not a nurse's role, and specimen delivery is handled by others.
A backcountry skier has been airlifted to the ED after becoming lost and developing hypothermia and frostbite. How should the nurse best manage the patient's frostbite?
- A. Immerse affected extremities in water slightly above normal body temperature.
- B. Immerse the patient's frostbitten extremities in the warmest water the patient can tolerate.
- C. Gently massage the patient's frozen extremities in between water baths.
- D. Perform passive range-of-motion exercises of the affected extremities to promote circulation.
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: Immersion in 37-40°C water safely rewarms frostbitten extremities. Hotter water risks burns, and massage or exercises cause further tissue damage.
A patient is brought to the ED by ambulance with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. The nurse knows that the most common hollow organ injured in this type of injury is what?
- A. Liver
- B. Small bowel
- C. Stomach
- D. Large bowel
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Penetrating abdominal injuries, like gunshot wounds, frequently damage hollow organs, with the small bowel being most common due to its large surface area. The liver is a solid organ.
Nokea