ATI LPN
Brunner & Suddarth's Textbook of Medical-Surgical Nursing 14e (Hinkle 2017)
Chapter 11 : Health Care of the Older Adult Questions
Question 1 of 5
Gerontologic nursing is a specialty area of nursing that provides care for the elderly in our population. What goal of care should a gerontologic nurse prioritize when working with this population?
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Gerontologic nursing is provided in acute care, skilled and assisted living, community, and home settings. The goals of care include promoting and maintaining functional status and helping older adults identify and use their strengths to achieve optimal independence. Goals of gerontologic nursing do not include helping older adults promote social integration or identify their weaknesses. Optimal independence does not necessarily involve reducing the use of available resources.
Question 2 of 5
The presence of a gerontologic advanced practice nurse in a long-term care facility has proved beneficial to both the patients and the larger community in which they live. Nurses in this advanced practice role have been shown to cause what outcome?
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: The use of advanced practice nurses who have been educated in geriatric nursing concepts has proved to be very effective when dealing with the complex care needs of an older patient. When best practices are used and current scientific knowledge applied to clinical problems, significantly less deterioration occurs in the overall health of aging patients. This does not necessarily mean that patients are happier in long-term care than at home, that they recover more quickly from acute illnesses, or greater interaction occurs between younger and older adults.
Question 3 of 5
A gerontologic nurse is basing the therapeutic programs at a long-term care facility on Millers Functional Consequences Theory. To actualize this theory of aging, the nurse should prioritize what task?
Correct Answer: D
Rationale: The Functional Consequences Theory requires the nurse to differentiate between normal, irreversible age-related changes and modifiable risk factors. This theory does not emphasize lowering expectations, controlling age-related changes, or helping adults accept the inevitability of death.
Question 4 of 5
Based on a patients vague explanations for recurring injuries, the nurse suspects that a community-dwelling older adult may be the victim of abuse. What is the nurses primary responsibility?
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: If neglect or abuse of any kind including physical, emotional, sexual, or financial abuse is suspected, the local adult protective services agency must be notified. The responsibility of the nurse is to report the suspected abuse, not to prove it, confront the suspected perpetrator, or work with the family to promote resolution.
Question 5 of 5
You are the nurse caring for an elderly patient with cardiovascular disease. The patient comes to the clinic with a suspected respiratory infection and is diagnosed with pneumonia. As the nurse, what do you know about the altered responses of older adults?
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Older people may be unable to respond effectively to an acute illness, or, if a chronic health condition is present, they may be unable to sustain appropriate responses over a long period. Furthermore, their ability to respond to definitive treatment is impaired. The altered responses of older adults reinforce the need for nurses to monitor all body system functions closely, being alert to signs of impending systemic complication. Holism should be integrated into all patients care. Altered responses in the older adult do not define the interactions between the nurse and the patient. Older adults do not become hypersensitive to antibiotic treatments for infectious disease states.