A 12-year-old patient has undergone knee surgery. She has an ...

[Pineapplelove6]

A 12-year-old patient has undergone knee surgery. She has an order for pain medication, which can be given by several different routes. Which of the following routes of administration will provide the fastest pain relief?
 
  a. Transcutaneous
  b. Intravenous
  c. Oral
  d. Rectal

Question 2

A nurse is collecting data during the assessment of a patient. During the assessment, the nurse collects both subjective and objective data. Which information should the nurse consider as subjective data?
 
  a. Heart rate of 96
  b. Incisional erythema
  c. Emesis of 150 mL
  d. Sharp, burning pain

[xthemafja]

Answer to Question 1

B
Intravenous (IV) injection produces the most rapid absorption because medications given in this route are immediately absorbed into the systemic circulation. When you place medications on the skin (transcutaneous), absorption is slow because of the physical makeup of the skin. The body also absorbs oral medications at a slow rate because these medications have to pass through the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The body absorbs medications through the mucous membranes (rectal and buccal) and respiratory airways quickly because these tissues contain many blood vessels, but the intravenous route is fastest.

Answer to Question 2

D
Sharp, burning pain is subjective. Subjective data are patients' verbal descriptions of their health problems. Only patients provide subjective data. Heart rate, incisions, and emesis are all objective data. Objective data are observations or measurements of a patient's health status.