An adult patient is prescribed cimetidine (Tagamet). A nurse will ...

[beccaep]

An adult patient is prescribed cimetidine (Tagamet). A nurse will instruct the patient that an appropriate dosage and frequency of cimetidine is what?
 
  A) 20 mg PO b.i.d
  B) 150 mg PO b.i.d
  C) 300 mg PO at bedtime
  D) 800 mg PO at bedtime

Question 2

The nurse admits an elderly patient in thyroid crisis for whom surgery is not an option. What antithyroid drug would the nurse expect will be ordered?
 
  A) Methimazole (Tapazole)
  B) Radioactive iodine (Generic)
  C) Propylthiouracil (PTU)
  D) Potassium iodide (Thyro-Block)

[owenfalvey]

Answer to Question 1

D
Feedback:
An appropriate dosage and frequency for cimetidine is 800 mg PO at bedtime. Also, 300 mg can be taken q.i.d at meals and at bedtime. Ranitidine is taken 150 mg daily or b.i.d. Famotidine is taken 20 mg PO b.i.d. Nizatidine can be taken 150 to 300 mg PO at bedtime.

Answer to Question 2

B
Feedback:
If antithyroid agents are needed in the older adult patient, sodium iodide I131 may be the drug of choice because it has fewer adverse effects than the other agents. The use of sodium iodide is reserved for those patients who are not candidates for surgery, women who cannot become pregnant, and elderly patients with such severe, complicating conditions that immediate thyroid destruction is needed. Radioactive iodine targets the thyroid cells and destroys them without many adverse effects. Methimazole and propylthiouracil are antithyroid drugs but have cardiovascular adverse effects that might be unacceptable in an elderly patient who is not a candidate for surgery. Effects of potassium iodide are short-lived and may precipitate further thyroid enlargement and dysfunction so they would not be used in a patient who is not a candidate for surgery because they would not provoke long-term effects.

[beccaep]

Both answers were spot on, thank you once again

[owenfalvey]

Great! Please up vote