A 21-year-old patient has a head injury resulting from trauma and ...

[CharlieWard]

A 21-year-old patient has a head injury resulting from trauma and is unconscious. There are no other injuries. During the assessment what would the nurse expect to find when testing the patient's deep tendon reflexes?
 
  a. Reflexes will be normal.
  b. Reflexes cannot be elicited.
  c. All reflexes will be diminished but present.
  d. Some reflexes will be present, depending on the area of injury.

Question 2

A patient has a severed spinal nerve as a result of trauma. Which statement is true in this situation?
 
  a. Because there are 31 pairs of spinal nerves, no effect results if only one nerve is severed.
  b. The dermatome served by this nerve will no longer experience any sensation.
  c. The adjacent spinal nerves will continue to carry sensations for the dermatome served by the severed nerve.
  d. A severed spinal nerve will only affect motor function of the patient because spinal nerves have no sensory component.

[mfedorka]

Answer to Question 1

ANS: A
A reflex is a defense mechanism of the nervous system. It operates below the level of conscious control and permits a quick reaction to potentially painful or damaging situations.

Answer to Question 2

ANS: C
A dermatome is a circumscribed skin area that is primarily supplied from one spinal cord segment through a particular spinal nerve. The dermatomes overlap, which is a form of biologic insurance; that is, if one nerve is severed, then most of the sensations can be transmitted by the spinal nerve above and the spinal nerve below the severed nerve.