Author Question: A nurse is working with a family that is conflicted about care arrangements for an older parent who ... (Read 31 times)

Davideckstein7 · **on:** Jul 11, 2018

A nurse is working with a family that is conflicted about care arrangements for an older parent who continues to live at home in less than safe conditions. What action by the nurse is best?

a. Identify and enlist the help of the prime mover
b. Tell the family you are calling social ser-vices
c. Give the family a deadline for making de-cisions
d. Offer to give the family tours of different facilities

Question 2

An older adult patient has experienced severe nausea and vomiting for 2 days since undergoing abdominal surgery. A prealbumin serum blood test is ordered. The nurse explains the rationale for the test to the patient's family by saying

a. The provider is interested in whether there is enough available protein in the blood.
b. This test is designed to determine how the body is meeting current demands for protein.
c. The test will tell us if the vomiting has created a problem with protein metabol-ism.
d. Healing from such a surgery requires protein, and this test measures protein.

marict · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 11, 2018

Answer to Question 1

A
Families often have a prime mover, the person who gets things done. The nurse can enlist this person to move on the decisions needing to be made. Threatening to call social services or giving deadlines will most likely result in entrenchment by the family. Offering to give tours will not help this family make decisions.

Answer to Question 2

B
This test is sensitive to sudden demands on protein synthesis and is often used in the acute care setting. Healing from surgery does require sufficient protein stores, and this test can help the nurse, dietician, and provider determine if the patient needs extra nutritional support.