Author Question: The patient is hyperventilating from anxiety and abdominal pain. Which assessment findings should ... (Read 73 times)

maychende · **on:** Jul 22, 2018

The patient is hyperventilating from anxiety and abdominal pain. Which assessment findings should the nurse attribute to respiratory alkalosis? (Select all that apply.)

a. Skin pale and cold
b. Tingling of fingertips
c. Heart rate of 102
d. Numbness around mouth
e. Cramping in feet

Question 2

A volunteer at the senior center asks the visiting nurse why the senior citizens always seem to be complaining about the temperature. What is the nurse's best response?

a. Older people have a diminished ability to regulate body temperature because of active sweat glands.
b. Older people have a diminished ability to regulate body temperature because of increased circulation.
c. Older people have a diminished ability to regulate body temperature because of peripheral vasoconstriction.
d. Older people have a diminished ability to regulate body temperature because of slower metabolic rates.

moormoney · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 22, 2018

Answer to Question 1

ANS: B, D, E
Hyperventilation is a risk factor for respiratory alkalosis. Respiratory alkalosis can cause perioral and digital paresthesias and pedal spasms. Pallor, cold skin, and tachycardia are characteristic of activation of the sympathetic nervous system, not respiratory alkalosis.

Answer to Question 2

ANS: D
Slower metabolic rates are one factor that reduces the ability of older adults to regulate temperature and be comfortable when there are any temperature changes. As the body ages, the sweat glands decrease in number and efficiency. Older adults have reduced circulation. The body conserves heat through peripheral vasoconstriction, and older adults have a decreased vasoconstrictive response, which impacts ability to respond to temperature changes.