Answer to Question 1
ANS: A
In the absence of neutrophils, as occurs with bone marrow suppression in chemotherapy, fever is the principle sign of infection. Pus, abscesses, and infiltrates on a chest x-ray may all be absent. When a neutropenic patient develops an infection, immediate and vigorous intervention is required. Empiric IV antibiotic therapy should begin while waiting for laboratory results and cultures. It is not correct to wait for culture results before initiating antibiotic therapy. Colony-stimulating factor can minimize neutropenia but does not eliminate the need for IV antibiotics. It is not correct to reassure the patient that a serious infection is unlikely.
Answer to Question 2
ANS: A
Because malignant cells are unresponsive to the feedback mechanisms that regulate cellular proliferation in healthy tissue, they are characterized by unrestrained growth and division. Division of tumor cells is not necessarily rapid. Malignant cells of all types can metastasize. Telomerase is an enzyme that permits repeated division of cancer cells.
Taking a Patient’s Oral Temperature with an Electronic Thermometer
Palpating the Apical Impulse with the Patient on the Left Side
Cancer cell.
Patient teaching: nail assessment
Patient teaching: neck assessment
The thorax of apes, including humans, is broad but shallow in contrast to the narrower, deeper chest