A patient has just had surgery. What pain control strategy is ...

[KWilfred]

A patient has just had surgery. What pain control strategy is best?
 
  a. Administer prn medications when re-quested.
  b. Give pain medications around the clock at first.
  c. Start with nonopioids then progress to opioids.
  d. Ask the patient his or her preference for medication.

Question 2

The nurse is preparing to apply a topical cream on the arm of a cognitively impaired, anorexic older adult patient in the terminal stage of lung cancer
 
  The nurse carefully monitors the effec-tiveness of the medication because its effectiveness will be most negatively impacted by the pa-tient's:
  a. age.
  b. cognitive limitations.
  c. nutritional status.
  d. cancer diagnosis.

[beccamahon]

Answer to Question 1

B
After surgery the patient is expected to have pain. The best way to control acute pain is through round-the-clock dosing (at least at first) to keep the patient's pain from getting out of control. The nurse should assess the patient's preferences, but should assess preferences for pain levels, because the patient may not be experienced in receiving pain medications. Opioids are expected for acute pain from surgery.

Answer to Question 2

A
Topical drugs face barriers to absorption because the aged skin has decreased water content, a relative decrease in lipid content, and a decrease in tissue perfusion. These changes may result in impaired absorption of some medications that are administered via lotions, creams, ointments, and patches. The other options are not related to medication effectiveness in this situation.