Author Question: The nurse is assessing the ears of a patient who is African American. Which assessment finding ... (Read 114 times)

Beheh · **on:** Jun 25, 2018

The nurse is assessing the ears of a patient who is African American. Which assessment finding should the nurse identify as abnormal?

1. During the Rinne test, the patient hears the sound by air conduction for an equal amount of time as by bone conduction.
2. The patient is able to hear whispers from 18 inches away.
3. The patient's cerumen is dark gray.
4. The patient's tympanic membrane is pearly gray.

Question 2

The nurse is performing an assessment of an 82-year-old patient's eyes. Which patient statements should the nurse expect based on the patient's age?

Select all that apply.
1. I've been having some drainage from the inside corner of my eye.
2. My eyes feel so dry most of the time.
3. I have almost fallen several times at home going down our basement stairs.
4. I have this white circle around the color of my eyes.
5. I have a hard time driving at night.

Ksanderson1296 · **Reply #1 on:** Jun 25, 2018

Answer to Question 1

Correct Answer: 1
This patient has some conductive hearing loss. The patient with no conductive hearing loss hears the sound twice as long by air conduction as by bone conduction. The patient should normally be able to hear the nurse whispering from 12 feet away. People with darker skin tend to have darker cerumen. This is a normal finding. The tympanic membrane should look pearly gray. This is a normal finding.

Answer to Question 2

Correct Answer: 2, 3, 4, 5
The lacrimal apparatus within the older patient's eye produces fewer tears. The eyes may look and feel dry. The older patient has an increased risk of falls as a result of changes in depth perception and adaptation to changes in light. A partial or complete white circle may form around the cornea (arcus senilis). With aging the lens loses elasticity, with reduced ability to change shape and focus light. The lens loses clarity and becomes thicker and increasingly opaque. Drainage from the puncta may indicate an infectious process and is not a normal age-related change.