Chapter 6: Individual and Family Homeostasis, Stress, and Adaptation - Nurselytic

Correct Answer: D

Rationale: The inflammatory response is often confined to the site, causing only local signs and symptoms. However, systemic responses can also occur. During this process, general, nonspecific symptoms develop, including malaise, loss of appetite, aching, and weakness. The fact that the patient is experiencing systemic effects such as lethargy, malaise, aching, weakness, and loss of appetite suggests that inflammation is not limited to one specific site.

Correct Answer: A

Rationale: Regardless of the cause, a general sequence of events occurs in the local inflammatory response. This sequence involves changes in the microcirculation, including vasodilation, increased vascular permeability, and leukocytic cellular infiltration. As these changes take place, five cardinal signs of inflammation are produced: redness, heat, swelling, pain, and loss of function. Infections do not always resolve spontaneously. The nurse should teach the patients father about the reasons that antibiotics are unnecessary rather than simply deferring to the physician.

Correct Answer: B

Rationale: Mechanisms for adjusting internal conditions promote the normal steady state of the organism and its survival. These mechanisms are compensatory in nature and work to restore balance in the body. Adaptation is a part of the concept of steady state; it is not the concept itself.

Correct Answer: C

Rationale: The concept of the cell as existing on a continuum of function and structure includes the relationship of the cell to compensatory mechanisms, which occur continuously in the body to maintain the steady state.

Correct Answer: D

Rationale: The longest-acting phase of the physiologic response, which is more likely to occur in persistent stress, involves the hypothalamic-pituitary pathway, not the sympathetic-adrenal-medullary pathway.