The nurse is caring for a patient of Greek descent who plans to ...

[dakota nelson]

The nurse is caring for a patient of Greek descent who plans to travel to an area of the world in which malaria is endemic. What should this patient be tested for before administering antimalarial medications?
 
  A) Tay-Sachs' disease
  B) Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency
  C) Plasmodium
  D) Penicillin allergy

Question 2

The nurse is working on the telemetry unit and has noted that many postmyocardial-infarction (MI) patients experience depression. What medication would the nurse question if ordered for one of these patients?
 
  A) Amitriptyline
  B) Escitalopram
  C) Fluoxetine
  D) Fluvoxamine

[amcvicar]

Answer to Question 1

B
Feedback:
Patients of Mediterranean descent, including Greeks, are more likely to have a G6PD deficiency. When patients with this deficiency take primaquine, chloroquine, or quinine, an acute hemolytic crisis may occur. Patients of Mediterranean descent should be tested for G6PD deficiency before any antimalarial drugs are prescribed. Tay-Sachs' disease is a disorder seen in those of middle-eastern descent that causes death of the child by age 5 . Plasmodium is the genus strain that causes malaria. Penicillin allergy has no connection to this situation.

Answer to Question 2

A
Feedback:
Amitriptyline is a tricyclic antidepressant (TCA). One contraindication to the use of TCAs includes recent myocardial infarction because of the potential occurrence of reinfarction or extension of the infarct with the cardiac effects of the drug. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors would be the safest antidepressant to give so there would be no need to question an order for escitalopram, fluoxetine, or fluvoxamine.