Answer to Question 1
ANS: D
Patients with low serum potassium are at risk for fatal cardiac dysrhythmias when taking digoxin, and it is essential to know this level before this medication is administered. Knowing a patient's albumin level would be important when giving drugs that are protein bound. The BUN and creatinine levels are indicators of renal function. Hepatic enzymes are important to know when drugs are metabolized by the liver.
Answer to Question 2
ANS: B
Pharmacogenomics is the study of the ways genetic variations affect individual responses to drugs through alterations in genes that code for drug-metabolizing enzymes and drug receptors. For some drugs, the FDA requires genetic testing and for others, this testing is recommended but not required. Genetic testing does not determine a drug's therapeutic index; this is a measure of a drug's safety based on statistics of the drug's use in the general population (see Chapter 5). Any distinct physiological differences in drug response among various racial populations are related to genetic differences and do not affect psychosocial differences in drug responses. Genetic testing is recommended to identify how a patient will respond to a drug and not to design a drug specific to an individual.
Palpating the thyroid gland from behind the patient is a most effective way of assessing the gland f
Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). The grafts are often obtained from the patient’s saphenous vein
Mechanical ventilation. The photograph shows a patient receiving breathing assistance by the use of
A patient with exophthalmos.
Koplik spots in the mouth of a patient with measles.
Action Potential Propagation Through the Heart