Author Question: The nurse is caring for a patient who just underwent laparoscopic appendectomy. The patient tells ... (Read 66 times)

lbcchick · **on:** Jul 23, 2018

The nurse is caring for a patient who just underwent laparoscopic appendectomy. The patient tells the nurse that she is experiencing severe postoperative pain between her shoulder blades. Which term best describes the pain that this patient is having?

a. Referred pain
b. Phantom pain
c. Neuropathic pain
d. Psychogenic pain

Question 2

The nurse is checking on the patient after administering pain medication 30 minutes previously. Which assessment finding best indicates to the nurse that the pain medication was effective?

a. The patient is sleeping quietly.
b. The patient states that she has no pain.
c. The patient's respirations are slow and regular.
d. The patient's blood pressure has returned to baseline.

Tonyam972 · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 23, 2018

Answer to Question 1

ANS: A
Referred pain is pain that occurs when discomfort is felt in a different area than the source of the pain. Phantom pain occurs in amputees when pain is felt in the missing limb. Neuropathic pain occurs in the nervous system and often feels like burning or tingling. Psychogenic pain is discomfort felt by the patient that has no physical cause.

Answer to Question 2

ANS: B
The best way for the nurse to determine that the pain medication was effective is for the patient to state that she has no pain. The other assessment findings cannot definitively determine whether or not the patient is still in pain.