Care of the Surgical Patient

During the preoperative interview, a patient scheduled for an elective hysterectomy to treat benign tumours of the uterus tells the nurse that she does not know whether she can go through with the surgery because she knows she will die in surgery, as her mother did. What is the most appropriate response?

Why is it especially important for the nurse to determine the patient’s current use of medications during the preoperative assessment?

The nurse visits the patient to have him sign the operative permit as directed in the physician’s preoperative orders. The patient tells the nurse that the physician has not really told him what is involved in the surgical procedure. What should the nurse do?

What does appropriate preoperative teaching for a patient scheduled for abdominal surgery include?

An 82-year-old man is admitted to the hospital the evening before a prostatectomy for cancer of the prostate. He is alert and oriented but has difficulty seeing and hearing. His wife is at his bedside and answers most questions directed to the patient. What should the nurse do to accomplish preoperative teaching with the patient?

What are the physical environment and traffic control measures of the OR primarily designed to do?

Which one of the following intraoperative patient positions would the nurse anticipate for the patient who is being prepared for abdominal surgery?

The nurse notes that a preoperative patient is drowsy, but oriented, in the receiving area. In addition to checking her hospital number and identification band, what should the nurse check?

The nurse from the general surgical unit brings the patient’s hearing aid to the surgical suite because the patient left the unit without it and it is needed to communicate with the patient. At the surgical suite, what areas can the general surgical unit nurse enter?

Which assessment finding would the nurse expect to observe in a patient with malignant hyperthermia

What is one of the most important goals of the registered nurse first assistant?

You are the clinic nurse doing a preoperative assessment on a patient who will be undergoing outpatient cataract surgery with lens implantation in 1 week. While taking the patient's medical history, you note that this patient had a kidney transplant 8 years ago. The patient is taking immunosuppressive drugs. What is this patient at increased risk for when having surgery?

An elderly client is preparing to undergo surgery. The nurse participates in preoperative care knowing that which of the following is the underlying principle that guides preoperative assessment, surgical care, and postoperative care for older adults?

How should a nurse teach a patient to perform deep breathing and coughing to use postoperatively?

Which of the following clinical manifestations is often the earliest sign of malignant hyperthermia?

A client who had abdominal surgery 4 days ago reports that "something gave way" when he sneezed. The nurse observes a wound evisceration. Which nursing action is the first priority?

The primary objective in the immediate postoperative period is

what percent of patients have emergence delirium?

a neurological scale used to give reliable and objective way of recording the conscious state of a patient is a

when is the original dressing removed?

when is a surgical dressing changed?

if a drug is equianlgesic it means