The daughter of an older hospitalized patient tells a nurse: I am ...

[iveyjurea]

The daughter of an older hospitalized patient tells a nurse: I am worried about my father. His memory is sharper when he is at home. He is forgetful, but is functional. Since he has been hos-pitalized his memory problems are much worse.
 
  The best response by the nurse is:
  a. It is common for long-term memory to be more impacted by age-related changes than short-term memory.
  b. Memory changes are often worse when an individual is in an unfamiliar or stress-ful situation.
  c. Perhaps you are just noticing your fa-ther's memory loss now that he is hospi-talized.
  d. There is a lot of new information for your father to process here in the hospital; he is overloaded.

Question 2

A nurse completes a cultural assessment of an older adult who is being admitted to an assisted living facility. Reasons for completing a cultural assessment include: (Select all that apply.)
 
  a. culture guides decision-making about health, illness, and preventive care.
  b. culture provides direction for individuals on how to interact during health care en-counters.
  c. culture impacts attitudes toward aging.
  d. all members of a culture react in the same way in similar situations.
  e. knowledge of culture eliminates health care disparities.

[Jane]

Answer to Question 1

ANS: B
Memory changes are often worse when the individual is in unfamiliar or stressful situations, such as a hospitalization. Option A is not true, short-term memory is impacted more than long-term memory. Options C and D are true; however, they do not address the issue that the patient's daughter is discussing.

Answer to Question 2

ANS: A, B, C
Although knowledge of culture has the potential to optimize care, not all individuals will respond in the same way to a specific situation. Knowledge of an individual's culture will not eliminate health care disparities.

[iveyjurea]

Excellent

[atrochim]

Thanks for the timely response, appreciate it