A 5-year-old patient seen in an outpatient clinic is noted to ...

[ereecah]

A 5-year-old patient seen in an outpatient clinic is noted to have hypertension on three separate visits. Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring confirms that the child has hypertension.
 
  As an initial intervention with the child's parents, the nurse will expect to: a. perform a detailed health history on the child.
  b. provide teaching about antihypertensive medications.
  c. reassure the parents that their child may outgrow this condition.
  d. teach the parents about lifestyle changes and a special diet.

Question 2

A child is diagnosed with absence seizures, and the prescriber orders ethosuximide Zarontin. When teaching the child's parents about dosage adjustments for this drug, the nurse will stress the importance of:
 
  a. frequent serum drug level monitoring.
  b. learning as much as possible about the disorder and its treatment.
  c. recording the number of seizures the child has each day.
  d. reporting dizziness and drowsiness to the provider.

[ultraflyy23]

Answer to Question 1

A
Because the incidence of secondary hypertension is much higher in children than adults, it is important to obtain an accurate health history to help uncover primary causes. Once the type of hypertension is established, the teaching interventions may be useful. Hypertension must be treated, and it is incorrect to reassure parents that their child may just outgrow the condition.

Answer to Question 2

C
Measurements of plasma drug levels are less important than observation of seizure activity for determining effective dosages for absence seizures, because this type of seizure is characterized by as many as several hundred occurrences a day. Keeping a chart of seizure activity is the best way to monitor drug effectiveness when treating absence seizures. Frequent drug level monitor-ing is important when side effects occur to ensure that drug toxicity is not occurring. Learning about the disorder is an important part of adherence. Dizziness and drowsiness are common side effects that diminish with continued use.

[ereecah]

TYSM

[AmberC1996]

Gracias!