A nurse is preparing to complete an admission assessment on a ...

[Ebrown]

A nurse is preparing to complete an admission assessment on a 2-year-old child. The child is sitting on the parent's lap. Which technique should the nurse implement to complete the physical exam?
 
  a. Ask the parent to place the child in the hospital crib.
  b. Take the child and parent to the exam room.
  c. Perform the exam while the child is on the parent's lap.
  d. Ask the child to stand by the parent while completing the exam.

Question 2

The nurse is caring for an adolescent who had an external fixator placed after suffering a fracture of the wrist during a bicycle accident. Which statement by the adolescent would be expected about separation anxiety?
 
  a. I wish my parents could spend the night with me while I am in the hospital.
  b. I think I would like for my siblings to visit me but not my friends.
  c. I hope my friends don't forget about visiting me.
  d. I will be embarrassed if my friends come to the hospital to visit.

[Mochi]

Answer to Question 1

ANS: C
The nurse should complete the exam while the child is on the parent's lap. For young children, particularly infants and toddlers, preserving parent-child contact is the best means of decreasing the need for or stress of restraint. The entire physical examination can be done in a parent's lap with the parent hugging the child for procedures such as an otoscopic examination. Placing the child in the crib, taking the child to the exam room, or asking the child to stand by the parent would separate the child from the parent and cause anxiety.

Answer to Question 2

ANS: C
Loss of peer-group contact may pose a severe emotional threat to an adolescent because of loss of group status; friends visiting is an important aspect of hospitalization for an adolescent and would be very reassuring. Adolescents may welcome the opportunity to be away from their parents. The separation from siblings may produce reactions from difficulty coping to a welcome relief.