ATI LPN
Brunner & Suddarth's Textbook of Medical-Surgical Nursing 14e (Hinkle 2017)
Chapter 35 : Assessment of Immune Function Questions
Question 1 of 5
A nurse is explaining the process by which the body removes cells from circulation after they have performed their physiologic function. The nurse is describing what process?
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, is the bodys way of destroying worn out cells such as blood or skin cells or cells that need to be renewed. Opsonization is the coating of antigenantibody molecules with a sticky substance to facilitate phagocytosis. The body does not use phagocytosis or the cellular immune response to remove cells from circulation.
Question 2 of 5
A patient is responding to a microbial invasion and the patients differentiated lymphocytes have begun to function in either a humoral or a cellular capacity. During what stage of the immune response does this occur?
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: In the response stage, the differentiated lymphocytes function in either a humoral or a cellular capacity. In the effector stage, either the antibody of the humoral response or the cytotoxic (killer) T cell of the cellular response reaches and connects with the antigen on the surface of the foreign invader. In the recognition stage, the recognition of antigens as foreign, or non-self, by the immune system is the initiating event in any immune response. During the proliferation stage the circulating lymphocytes containing the antigenic message return to the nearest lymph node.
Question 3 of 5
A nurse is reviewing the immune system before planning an immunocompromised patients care. How should the nurse characterize the humoral immune response?
Correct Answer: D
Rationale: The humoral response is characterized by the production of antibodies by B lymphocytes in response to a specific antigen. Phagocytosis and direct attack on microbes occur in the context of the cellular immune response.
Question 4 of 5
A patient is undergoing testing to determine the overall function of her immune system. What test can be performed to evaluate the functioning of the patients cellular immune system?
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Cellular (cell-mediated) immunity tests include the delayed hypersensitivity skin test, since this immune response is specifically dependent on the cellular immune response. Each of the other listed tests assesses functioning of the humoral immune system.
Question 5 of 5
Diagnostic testing has revealed a deficiency in the function of a patients complement system. This patient is likely to have an impaired ability to do which of the following?
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: Complement has three major physiologic functions: defending the body against bacterial infection, bridging natural and acquired immunity, and disposing of immune complexes and the byproducts associated with inflammation. Complement does not mark the parameters of the immune response; complement does not collect immune complexes during inflammation.