A terminally ill patient with liver cancer is experiencing great ...

[nummyann]

A terminally ill patient with liver cancer is experiencing great discomfort. Which of the following is a realistic goal in caring for this patient?
 
  a. Increasingly administer narcotics to oversedate the patient and thereby decrease the pain.
  b. Continue to change the analgesics until the right narcotic is found that completely alleviates the pain.
  c. Adapt the analgesics as the nursing assessment reveals changes in patient condition and pain.
  d. Withhold analgesics, as they are not being effective in relieving discomfort.

Question 2

The physician orders 1000 mL of D5RL with 20 mmol KCl to run for eight hours. With an infusion set with a drop factor of 15 gtt/mL, which of the following will the nurse calculate the flow rate to be?
 
  a. 12 drops per minute
  b. 22 drops per minute
  c. 32 drops per minute
  d. 42 drops per minute

[laurnthompson]

Answer to Question 1

C

Feedback
A The goal is not to oversedate the patient but to provide pain control without excessive sedation.
B It would be unrealistic to expect that the pain of terminal cancer will be completely alleviated.
C The best choice of treatment often changes as the patient's condition and the characteristics of pain change. It is realistic to expect that a terminally ill patient's need for pain medication will change over time with disease progression.
D Analgesics should not be withheld, as this would only increase the patient's level of pain. The medication regimen may require adaptation to meet the patient's needs.

Answer to Question 2

C
32 drops per minute is the correct flow rate.
12 drops per minute is an inaccurate flow rate.
22 drops per minute is an inaccurate flow rate.
42 drops per minute is an inaccurate flow rate.

[nummyann]

Excellent

[chereeb]

Thanks for the timely response, appreciate it