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Clinical Nursing Skills

What Should the Nurse Do?

Clinical Nursing SkillsWhat Should the Nurse Do?

What Should the Nurse Do?

Mr. Hernandez is a 92-year-old male being treated for a severe decubitus ulcer. The patient has a history of dysphagia and has a G tube placed in his abdomen. The nurse is preparing the patient’s daily medications and notes the following medications in the patient’s medication drawer:

  • sucralfate (Carafate) suspension
  • acetaminophen (Tylenol) liquid
  • nitroglycerin (Nitrostat) sublingual tablet
  • pantoprazole (Protonix) enteric-coated tablet
  • loratadine (Claritin) tablet
  • metoprolol (Toprol-XL) extended-release tablet
1 .
What must the nurse consider when administering medications via a feeding tube?
2 .
Are the medications in the drawer safe to administer to the patient? If not, which medications should the nurse question?
3 .
How should the medications be prepared before administering them to the patient?
4 .
How should the nitroglycerin tablet be administered?
Mr. Barker is scheduled to receive furosemide and morphine, both IV, at 10 a.m. Provided both medications are ordered for the same time via the same route, the nurse considers mixing the medications into one syringe.
5 .
What should the nurse do before administering both medications in the same syringe?
6 .
How might the nurse check the compatibility of these medications?
7 .
What might happen if incompatible medications are mixed together in the same syringe?

Using the label for azithromycin shown here, answer the following questions:

Medication label for Azithromycin for Injection, USP. The label reads: Usual Dosage: See accompanying prescribing information. Constitute to 100 mg/mL* with 4.8 mL of Sterile Water for Injection. *Each mL contains azithromycin monohydrate, USP equivalent to 100mg of azithromycin, 76.9 mg of citric acid, and sodium hydroxide for pH adjustment. Must be further diluted before use. For appropriate diluents and storage recommendations, refer to prescribing information. The sodium content is 114 mg (4.96 mEq) per vial. 500 mg per Vial of azithromycin Sterile For Intravenous Infusion Only Rx only. Store at 20° to 25°C (68° to 77°F): excursions permitted between 15° and 30°C (59° and 86°F) </alt>[see USP Controlled Room Temperature]<alt>. Manufactured by: XYZ Pharmaceuticals.
(attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC BY 4.0 license)
8 .
What diluent must be used for reconstitution?
9 .
How much of the diluent must be used to prepare the medication?
10 .
What is the final concentration of the prepared solution?
11 .
What is the final volume to be expected after reconstituting the medication?
12 .
If the order is for 250 mg of Zithromax, how many mL would the nurse administer?
Ms. Harrison comes into the clinic on Monday afternoon to receive a tuberculosis (TB) test for nursing school. The nurse prepares the purified protein derivative (PPD) using a tuberculin syringe.
13 .
What questions should the nurse ask Ms. Harrison before administering the TB test?
14 .
Where should the TB test be placed?
15 .
How would the nurse verify the test was performed correctly?
16 .
When should Ms. Harrison return to have the TB test read?
17 .
Ms. Harrison returns to the clinic on Friday to have the TB test read. What should the nurse do?
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