Pathophysiology Chapter 1 Q&A's

The nurse is caring for a client in the burn unit who has sustained partial and full thickness burns over 16 percent of the body. What type of etiologic factor does the nurse recognize these burns are?

Physical forces

A client used a prescription medication prescribed by the health care provider during the first trimester of pregnancy before realizing she was pregnant which caused a facial deformity in the newborn. Which term best describes how to categorize this newborn's condition?

congenital condition

The nurse is planning care for a client. Which information is most important for the nurse to apply in developing a plan of care?

current clinical practice guidelines combined with the client's health care goals

The nurse is reviewing a physical examination report for a client who was admitted the day before. The nurse has auscultated a heart murmur but does not see it on the physician's physical examination. What is the importance of the physical examination for this client?

To observe for signs of altered body function

A client states, "I do not know why the health care provider (HCP) bothered discussing the prognosis for my illness with me since the outcome is not certain." How will the nurse respond?

"Being aware of the prognosis helps you make decisions about treatment options."

Which of the nurse's assessment questions most directly addresses the client's level of health, based on the World Health Organization's definition of health?

"How would you rate your overall sense of well-being?"

When attempting to reach a health diagnosis, the health care provider commonly applies four primary steps. Place the steps for reaching a diagnosis in order. Use all the options.

1. Obtain clinical history, 2. Conduct a physical examination, 3. Perform diagnostic testing, 4. Determine the most likely cause of the client's presentation

A nurse is conducting a staff educational program on diagnostic tests. The nurse should include that the normal value of a laboratory test represents the test results that fall within which distribution level?

95%

When the nurse is assisting with the diagnostic process for a client with an illness, what is a priority when compiling all of the data to have an accurate diagnosis? Select all that apply.

A careful history, Diagnostics test, Detailed physical examination

The nurse observes that blood pressure readings taken by a new unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP) are very different from what other nurses obtain. What does the nurse understand is occurring with these readings?

A lack of reliability in the readings of the UAP.

The nurse is performing an assessment on a client who states she fell and twisted her right ankle during a softball game. The nurse notes that the right ankle is edematous and will probably need to be x-rayed. What term does the nurse use to describe the changes that accompany this finding?

A sign

The nurse is performing an assessment on a newly admitted client with asthma and hears wheezes in the upper lobes of the lungs. When the nurse documents this finding, the nurse recognize this to be:

A sign

A nurse documenting a client's health history places hypertension under which category?

Acquired

An infant has a difficult time passing through the birth canal and the physician uses forceps to deliver the child. In the process, the facial nerve was damaged, resulting in a facial droop. Which condition does the nurse recognize this to be?

Acquired defect

A client tests positive for an infectious disease but does not have any symptoms. The physician informs the client that she is capable of infecting others. Which stage of the clinical course is this client experiencing?

Carrier state

A client is diagnosed with Crohn disease and is informed that there is no cure; however, the client will have periods when there are no symptoms and other times when symptoms will be quite severe. What term should the nurse teach the client applies to this disease course?

Chronic

During an assessment, a client tells the nurse that he has suffered from asthma since childhood. He is not experiencing any symptoms at this time but takes an inhaled steroidal medication daily. The nurse should document the asthma as being which type of condition?

Chronic

The nurse is caring for clients with chronic illnesses. Which characteristic of chronic illness will the nurse apply when developing plans of care?

Chronic illnesses may have periods of stability and acute exacerbations.

A client is experiencing signs and symptoms of congestive heart failure. The client's disease is in which phase of its clinical course?

Clinical

The Framingham cohort study examined characteristics of people who would later develop which disease?

Coronary disease

(Pre-Lecture Quiz) __________ is the study of disease occurrence in human populations.

Epidemiology

(Pre-Lecture Quiz) Breast cancer screening programs are an example of primary prevention of disease. T/F?

False

(Pre-Lecture Quiz) Health is defined as the absence of infirmity or disease. T/F?

False

(Pre-Lecture Quiz) Prevalence is the number of new cases of a disease in a population in a given time. T/F?

False

What do morbidity and mortality statistics refer to?

Functional effects and death-producing characteristics of a disease

Nurses are discussing a new blood test that helps establish a differential diagnosis between shortness of breath with a cardiac etiology and shortness of breath with a respiratory/pulmonary etiology. A positive result is known to indicate a cardiac etiology. The marketers of the test report that 99.8% of clients who have confirmed cardiac etiologies test positive in the test. However, 1.3% of clients who do not have cardiac etiologies for their shortness of breath also test positive. Which statement best characterizes this blood test?

High sensitivity, low specificity

Pathogenesis is the term used to describe the sequence of cellular and tissue events that occur from the time of first contact with an etiologic agent until the disease becomes evident. What is another way of defining pathogenesis?

How the disease process evolves

The nurse is determining the prevalence for lung cancer in a population. How should the nurse apply the data when determining the prevalence rate? Select all that apply.

Include the total number of people who were diagnosed with lung cancer in the last year, Establish the number of people in the population against which prevalence will be compared, Exclude any people who were diagnosed with lung cancer but died of a different cause

The nurse is interested in conducting an epidemiologic research study. Which research question should the nurse choose as appropriate for an epidemiologic study?

Is there a relationship between smoking rates and incidence of heart disease?

A health care provider (HCP) wishes to offer the client an accurate prognosis for a newly diagnosed condition. Which aspects should the HCP consider in developing the most accurate prognosis for the client? Select all that apply.

Mortality rate, Natural history, Treatment success rate

A disease agent can affect more than one organ of the body, and more than one disease agent can affect the same organ of the body. Which term best describes this aspect of disease etiology?

Multifactorial in origin

(Pre-Lecture Quiz) __________ is the physiology of altered health.

Pathophysiology

A nurse researcher is collecting data on the number of people who have a current diagnosis of diabetes in a local population. Which term categorizes the aspect of epidemiology the nurse is collecting?

Prevelance

(Pre-Lecture Quiz) __________ prevention of disease is aimed at keeping diseases from occurring by identifying and removing risk factors.

Primary

Which assessment data would a nurse identify as a complication of a disease or disorder?

Pulmonary emboli following deep vein thrombosis (DVT)

The nurse notes that a colleague neglects to wipe away the first drop of blood from the sample during point-of-care blood glucose testing; this in contradiction of the unit policy. What action should the nurse take first?

Remind the colleague that the purpose of discarding the first drop is to improve the reliability of the results.

The nurse documents which assessment data as a symptom?

Report of Pain

There are three fundamental types of prevention used in health care: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Which statement accurately describes secondary prevention?

Secondary prevention detects disease early, and most is done in clinical settings.

Which statement is an example of a prognosis?

The client's chance of a full recovery is 50%.

(Pre-Lecture Quiz) Reliability refers to the extent that a repeated observation will give the same results. T/F?

True

(Pre-Lecture Quiz) The natural history of a disease can be used to predict outcomes in people who are not able to be treated. T/F?

True

(Pre-Lecture Quiz) __________ refers to the extent to which a measurement tool measures what it is intended to measure.

Validity

When the nurse questions the blood glucose level obtained via a glucometer, a serum blood level is ordered. This protocol is directed toward ensuring which measure of standardization?

Validity

Facility policies on wound dressing selection refer the nurse to a dressing algorithm. The nurse anticipates that the algorithm will include:

a step-by-step decision-making tree for dressing selection.

A client comes to the clinic stating, "I feel terrible. I feel feverish and it hurts when I cough." The nurse documents this report to be:

a symptom

(Pre-Lecture Quiz) Incidence is the number of __________ cases arising in a given population during a specified time.

new

A client has been diagnosed with a heart attack and has been placed on beta-blockers to reduce the workload on the heart, as well as a statin drug and a low-fat diet to lower cholesterol. Which level of prevention of disease would these therapies be classified?

tertiary

A newly introduced diagnostic test has been found to produce unacceptably low levels of reliability. The nurse should recognize that the test:

yields inconsistent results when repeated.