Chapter 20: Caring for Clients with Upper Respiratory Disorders - PREP U

A client is being treated for bacterial pharyngitis. Which of the following should the nurse recommend when promoting the client's nutrition during treatment?

A liquid or soft diet

A client seeks care for hoarseness that has lasted for 1 month. To elicit the most appropriate information about this problem, the nurse should ask which question?

Do you smoke cigarettes, cigars, or a pipe?"

The nurse is creating a plan of care for a client diagnosed with acute laryngitis. What intervention should be included in the client's plan of care?

Encourage the client to limit speech whenever possible.

A 60-year-old man has been diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) based on his clinical symptoms and polysomnographic findings. What intervention should the nurse perform to assist this patient in the management of his health problem?

Encouraging the patient to avoid alcohol and hypnotic medications

The nurse is caring for a client whose recent unexplained weight loss and history of smoking have prompted diagnostic testing for cancer. What symptom is most closely associated with the early stages of laryngeal cancer?

Hoarseness

A nurse takes the initial history of a patient who is being examined for cancer of the larynx. Select the sign that is considered an early clinical indicator.

Hoarseness of more than 2 week's duration

The occupational health nurse is obtaining a client history during a pre-employment physical. During the history, the client states that he has hereditary angioedema. The nurse should identify what implication of this health condition?

It can cause life-threatening airway obstruction.

A patient has had a laryngectomy and was able to retain his airway, with no difficulty swallowing. There is no split of thyroid cartilage. The nurse would record this type of laryngectomy as which of the following?

Partial laryngectomy

A patient is diagnosed as being in the early stage of laryngeal cancer of the glottis with only 1 vocal cord involved. For what type of surgical intervention will the nurse plan to provide education?

Partial laryngectomy

The nurse has noted the emergence of a significant amount of fresh blood at the drain site of a client who is postoperative day 1 following total laryngectomy. What is the nurse's best action?

Rapidly assess the client and notify the surgeon about the client's bleeding.

It is cold season and the school nurse been asked to provide an educational event for the parent teacher organization of the local elementary school. What should the nurse include in teaching about the treatment of pharyngitis?

Use of warm saline gargles or throat irrigations can relieve symptoms.

The nurse is caring for a patient in the emergency department for epistaxis. What information should the nurse include in patient discharge teaching as a way to prevent epistaxis?

avoid picking the nose

During the cold and flu season each winter, rhinoviruses run rampant infecting those susceptible. What is the most important preventive factor to reduce the spread of this viral infection?

hand washing

A client is being seen by the physician because of an unrelenting headache, facial tenderness, low-grade fever, and dark yellow nasal discharge. The client reports seeming to develop sinus infections "all the time." Which factor may predispose the client to sinusitis?

interference with sinus drainage

A client is being discharged from an outpatient surgery center following a tonsillectomy. What instruction should the nurse give to the client?

"Gargle with a warm salt solution."

The nurse is obtaining a health history from a client with laryngitis. Which causative factor, stated by the client, is least likely?

"I was chewing ice chips all day long."

A nurse practitioner has provided care for three different clients with chronic pharyngitis over the past several months. Which clients are at greatest risk for developing chronic pharyngitis?

A client who is a habitual user of alcohol and tobacco

A patient has herpes simplex infection that developed after having the common cold. What medication does the nurse anticipate will be administered for this infection?

An antiviral agent such as acyclovir

A 13-year-old boy has been brought to the emergency department by his mother after he took a powerful blow to his nose during a volleyball game. Preliminary examination suggests a nasal fracture, which should prompt the nurse to:

Apply ice and tell the patient to keep his head elevated

The nurse is caring for the client in the intensive care unit immediately after removal of the endotracheal tube. Which of the following nursing actions is most important to complete every hour to ensure that the respiratory system is not compromised?

Auscultate lung sounds.

A client stops breathing during sleep as a result of repetitive upper airway obstruction. To help decrease the frequency of the apneic episodes, the nurse intervenes by informing the client to:

Eliminate alcohol ingestion.

The nurse is teaching a client with allergic rhinitis about the safe and effective use of his medications. What would be the most essential information to give this client about preventing possible drug interactions?

Read drug labels carefully before taking OTC medications.

A nurse has pharyngitis and will be providing self care at home. It is most important for the nurse to

Seek medical help if he experiences inability to swallow

When the nurse gives a client and family instructions after laryngeal surgery, which does the nurse indicate should be avoided?

Swimming

The nurse is providing suggestions to a client diagnosed with the effects of coryza. Which home remedy is appropriate when combined with medical treatment for pharyngitis?

salt water gargle

A client has had a nasogastric tube in place for 6 days due to the development of paralytic ileus after surgery. In light of the prolonged presence of the nasogastric tube, the nurse should prioritize assessments related to what complication?

sinus infections

A patient playing softball was hit in the nose by the ball and has been determined to have an uncomplicated fractured nose with epistaxis. The nurse should prepare to assist the physician with what tasks?

apply nasal packing

After a tonsillectomy, a client is being prepared for discharge. The nurse should instruct the client to report which sign or symptom immediately?

bleeding

The nurse is caring for a client who is status post nasal polypectomy. What would the nurse instruct this client to report?

excessive swallowing