Author Question: An obstetrical nurse is taking a medication history from a pregnant woman. One of the woman's ... (Read 77 times)

wrbasek0 · **on:** Jun 28, 2018

An obstetrical nurse is taking a medication history from a pregnant woman. One of the woman's medications is classified as category D. What action by the nurse is best?

A.
Advise her to stop the medication right away.
B.
Encourage her to find herbal substitutions.
C.
Have her call her primary care provider immediately.
D.
Tell her to cut the medication dose in half until she gives birth.

Question 2

The birthing center nurse is assisting with pain management for a laboring woman at 18 weeks' gestation. The fetus is born and the weight is 450 gm. The nurse would document this birth as which of the following?

A.
Abortion
B.
Fetal loss
C.
Neonatal death
D.
Stillbirth

heinisk01 · **Reply #1 on:** Jun 28, 2018

Answer to Question 1

ANS: C
A category D medication is one with well-documented risks to the fetus. In some situations, this may be acceptable if the medication is prescribed for a life-threatening situation or for a disease for which safer drugs cannot be used or do not exist. The nurse should help the woman contact her primary care provider during the OB visit to discuss the continued used of the medication. The nurse should not advise the woman to just stop the medication; she needs to discuss this with the primary care provider, but that needs to be accomplished quickly. The nurse should not encourage substituting herbal preparations or cutting the medication dose in half.

Answer to Question 2

ANS: A
The loss of a fetus before 20 to 22 weeks of gestation is referred to as an abortion because the fetus is considered too immature to survive outside the uterus. Fetal loss and neonatal death are not medical terms. Stillbirth is the intrauterine death of a fetus old enough to survive outside the womb.