You are working on the cardiac unit and you have noticed that a patient’s potassium is 6.1 mEq/L. You have notified the provider and removed the banana from his meal tray. When explaining your actions to the patient, which of these statements is appropriate?
Your potassium levels in your blood are higher than they should be, which brings a risk of changes in kidney function.
The amount of potassium in your blood is too high, but I will change your intravenous fluids.
Your potassium level is high so I need you to let me know if you feel numbness, tingling, or weakness.
I need to monitor you for signs of high potassium; tell me if you feel as if your heart is beating quickly.
The Correct Answer is C
Choice A reason: Linking high potassium to kidney function risk is inaccurate; hyperkalemia primarily affects cardiac and neuromuscular function. Numbness, tingling, or weakness are direct symptoms, making this statement less relevant for patient education and incorrect.
Choice B reason: Changing IV fluids may be a treatment but doesn’t explain the issue or engage the patient. Asking to report numbness, tingling, or weakness directly addresses hyperkalemia symptoms, making this less appropriate and incorrect.
Choice C reason: High potassium (6.1 mEq/L) can cause numbness, tingling, or weakness. Instructing the patient to report these symptoms ensures early detection of worsening hyperkalemia, making this the correct, patient-centered statement for education.
Choice D reason: Palpitations may occur, but numbness, tingling, and weakness are more specific to hyperkalemia’s neuromuscular effects. “Quick beating” is less precise for heart rhythm issues, so this is incorrect compared to option c.
Nursing Test Bank
Naxlex Comprehensive Predictor Exams
Related Questions
Correct Answer is D
Explanation
Choice A reason: Septic arthritis affects joints, causing joint-specific swelling and pain, but this patient’s symptoms center on a fracture site, suggesting bone involvement. Osteomyelitis better matches pain, swelling, and warmth over a bone wound, with fever and chills, so this is incorrect.
Choice B reason: Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic autoimmune condition affecting multiple joints, typically hands and feet, not a single fracture site. This patient’s acute fever, localized bone pain, and wound-related symptoms point to osteomyelitis, not systemic arthritis, making this incorrect.
Choice C reason: Gout causes acute joint pain, often in the big toe, due to uric acid crystals, not bone infections. The patient’s fracture site pain, swelling, and systemic symptoms like fever align with osteomyelitis, not gout, so this is incorrect.
Choice D reason: Osteomyelitis, a bone infection, matches the patient’s severe pain, swelling, warmth, and redness over a recent fracture site, with fever and chills. These are primary signs of bone infection post-trauma, making this the correct diagnosis and symptom description.
Correct Answer is D
Explanation
Choice A reason: Increased glucose use doesn’t occur in DKA; insulin deficiency reduces glucose uptake. Fluid shifts are due to osmotic diuresis, not intravascular to intracellular movement, so this is incorrect for DKA’s mechanism.
Choice B reason: DKA involves metabolic, not respiratory, acidosis from ketones. Protein catabolism occurs, but fatty acid use and ketogenesis are primary, leading to acidosis and diuresis, so this is incorrect.
Choice C reason: Increased glucose and fatty acids contribute, but the mechanism is decreased glucose use causing ketogenesis. This option omits ketogenesis, a key DKA feature, so it’s less precise and incorrect.
Choice D reason: Insulin deficiency in DKA reduces glucose use, leading to fatty acid breakdown, ketogenesis, metabolic acidosis (pH 7.2), and osmotic diuresis (electrolyte loss). This fully explains the lab values, making it correct.
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