Pharmacology Chapter 4
A patient is given a prescription for azithromycin [Zithromax] and asks the nurse why the dose on the first day is twice the amount of the dose on the next 4 days. Which reply by the nurse is correct?
"A large initial dose helps to get the drug to optimal levels in the body faster."
The nurse is preparing to administer penicillin G intramuscularly to a child. The child's parents ask why the drug cannot be given in an oral liquid form. What is the nurse's reply?
"This drug would be inactivated by enzymes in the stomach."
A nurse is giving an enteral medication. The patient asks why this method is preferable for this drug. How will the nurse reply?
"This route is safer, less expensive, and more convenient."
An adult male patient is 1 day postoperative from a total hip replacement. On a pain scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the greatest pain, the patient reports a pain level of 10. Which medication would be most appropriate for the nurse to administer to this patient?
6 mg morphine sulfate intravenously
A provider has written an order for a medication: drug × 100 mg PO every 6 hours. The half-life for the drug is approximately 6 hours. The nurse is preparing to administer the first dose at 8:00 AM on Tuesday. On Wednesday, when will the serum drug level reach plateau?
8:00 AM
A patient is taking a drug that does not bind to albumin. Which aspect of renal drug excretion is affected by this characteristic?
Glomerular filtration
A patient receives a drug that has a narrow therapeutic range. The nurse administering this medication will expect to do what?
Monitor plasma drug levels
A patient claims to get better effects with a tablet of Brand X of a drug than with a tablet of Brand Y of the same drug. Both brands contain the same amount of the active ingredient. What does the nurse know to be most likely?
Tablets can differ in composition and can have differing rates of disintegration and dissolution, which can alter the drug's effects in the body.
A patient is receiving intravenous gentamicin. A serum drug test reveals toxic levels. The dosing is correct, and this medication has been tolerated by this patient in the past. Which could be a probable cause of the test result?
The patient is taking another medication that binds to serum albumin.
A patient tells the nurse that the oral drug that has been prescribed has caused a lot of stomach discomfort in the past. What will the nurse ask the prescriber?
Whether an enteric-coated form of the drug is available
The nurse is caring for a child who has ingested a toxic amount of aspirin. The provider orders an intravenous drug that will increase pH in the blood and urine. The nurse understands that this effect is necessary to:
increase the urinary excretion of aspirin.
A nurse is explaining drug metabolism to a nursing student who asks about glucuronidation. The nurse knows that this is a process that allows drugs to be:
recycled via the enterohepatic recirculation to remain in the body longer
