Nursing Bullets: Fundamentals of Nursing III
Nursing Bullets: Fundamentals of Nursing III
- In adults, the most convenient veins for venipuncture are the basilic and median cubital veins in the antecubital space.
- Two to three hours before beginning a tube feeding, the nurse should aspirate the patient’s stomach contents to verify that gastric emptying is adequate.
- People with type O blood are considered universal donors.
- People with type AB blood are considered universal recipients.
- Hertz (Hz) is the unit of measurement of sound frequency.
- Hearing protection is required when the sound intensity exceeds 84 dB. Double hearing protection is required if it exceeds 104 dB.
- Prothrombin, a clotting factor, is produced in the liver.
- If a patient is menstruating when a urine sample is collected, the nurse should note this on the laboratory request.
- During lumbar puncture, the nurse must note the initial intracranial pressure and the color of the cerebrospinal fluid.
- If a patient can’t cough to provide a sputum sample for culture, a heated aerosol treatment can be used to help to obtain a sample.
- If eye ointment and eyedrops must be instilled in the same eye, the eyedrops should be instilled first.
- When leaving an isolation room, the nurse should remove her gloves before her mask because fewer pathogens are on the mask.
- Skeletal traction, which is applied to a bone with wire pins or tongs, is the most effective means of traction.
- The total parenteral nutrition solution should be stored in a refrigerator and removed 30 to 60 minutes before use. Delivery of a chilled solution can cause pain, hypothermia, venous spasm, and venous constriction.
- Drugs aren’t routinely injected intramuscularly into edematous tissue because they may not be absorbed.
- When caring for a comatose patient, the nurse should explain each action to the patient in a normal voice.
- Dentures should be cleaned in a sink that’s lined with a washcloth.
- A patient should void within 8 hours after surgery.
- An EEG identifies normal and abnormal brain waves.
- Samples of feces for ova and parasite tests should be delivered to the laboratory without delay and without refrigeration.
- The autonomic nervous system regulates the cardiovascular and respiratory systems.
- When providing tracheostomy care, the nurse should insert the catheter gently into the tracheostomy tube. When withdrawing the catheter, the nurse should apply intermittent suction for no more than 15 seconds and use a slight twisting motion.
- A low-residue diet includes such foods as roasted chicken, rice, and pasta.
- A rectal tube shouldn’t be inserted for longer than 20 minutes because it can irritate the rectal mucosa and cause loss of sphincter control.
- A patient’s bed bath should proceed in this order: face, neck, arms, hands, chest, abdomen, back, legs, perineum.
- To prevent injury when lifting and moving a patient, the nurse should primarily use the upper leg muscles.
- Patient preparation for cholecystography includes ingestion of a contrast medium and a low-fat evening meal.
- While an occupied bed is being changed, the patient should be covered with a bath blanket to promote warmth and prevent exposure.
- Anticipatory grief is mourning that occurs for an extended time when the patient realizes that death is inevitable.
- The following foods can alter the color of the feces: beets (red), cocoa (dark red or brown), licorice (black), spinach (green), and meat protein (dark brown).
- When preparing for a skull X-ray, the patient should remove all jewelry and dentures.
- The fight-or-flight response is a sympathetic nervous system response.
- Bronchovesicular breath sounds in peripheral lung fields are abnormal and suggest pneumonia.
- Wheezing is an abnormal, high-pitched breath sound that’s accentuated on expiration.
- Wax or a foreign body in the ear should be flushed out gently by irrigation with warm saline solution.
- If a patient complains that his hearing aid is “not working,” the nurse should check the switch first to see if it’s turned on and then check the batteries.
- The nurse should grade hyperactive biceps and triceps reflexes as +4.
- If two eye medications are prescribed for twice-daily instillation, they should be administered 5 minutes apart.
- In a postoperative patient, forcing fluids helps prevent constipation.
- A nurse must provide care in accordance with standards of care established by the American Nurses Association, state regulations, and facility policy.
- The kilocalorie (kcal) is a unit of energy measurement that represents the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water 1° C.
- As nutrients move through the body, they undergo ingestion, digestion, absorption, transport, cell metabolism, and excretion.
- The body metabolizes alcohol at a fixed rate, regardless of serum concentration.
- In an alcoholic beverage, proof reflects the percentage of alcohol multiplied by 2. For example, a 100-proof beverage contains 50% alcohol.
- A living will is a witnessed document that states a patient’s desire for certain types of care and treatment. These decisions are based on the patient’s wishes and views on quality of life.
- The nurse should flush a peripheral heparin lock every 8 hours (if it wasn’t used during the previous 8 hours) and as needed with normal saline solution to maintain patency.
- Quality assurance is a method of determining whether nursing actions and practices meet established standards.
- The five rights of medication administration are the right patient, right drug, right dose, right route of administration, and right time.
- The evaluation phase of the nursing process is to determine whether nursing interventions have enabled the patient to meet the desired goals.
- Outside of the hospital setting, only the sublingual and translingual forms of nitroglycerin should be used to relieve acute anginal attacks.
