At what body weight percentage is a person dead?

Nursing Students Student Assist

Published

I got a stupid question on a test that was worded in such a way to trick me. I think the person was already dead at 20% of their normal body weight. Am I correct and why?

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Definitely, they are steadfast about this being a great question also. The answer was call the psychiatrist.
If they are that thin.......I don't think the psychiatrist is going to be effective at this point.....immediate intervention is necessary to save their life and you can talk about the why's later.

Ashley is right that is the difference between school and real life.

If they are that thin.......I don't think the psychiatrist is going to be effective at this point.....immediate intervention is necessary to save their life and you can talk about the why's later.

Ashley is right that is the difference between school and real life.

I looked at the question and immediately saw the 20% and overlooked the rest. I thought they meant they had lost 20% of their weight which is entirely possible. The textbook talks about hospitalization at 70% of their normal body weight and maybe a referral to a specialist at 80%. The answer was actually call the psychiatrist to institute force feeding. I picked do nothing. Very frustrating. Any reasonable person would answer this correctly if it was worded better.

Specializes in being a Credible Source.
I looked at the question and immediately saw the 20% and overlooked the rest. I thought they meant they had lost 20% of their weight which is entirely possible. The textbook talks about hospitalization at 70% of their normal body weight and maybe a referral to a specialist at 80%. The answer was actually call the psychiatrist to institute force feeding. I picked do nothing. Very frustrating. Any reasonable person would answer this correctly if it was worded better.
Well... not so fast, there.

"Do nothing" is a clearly UNREASONABLE answer... frankly, even if they were dead (which would be an off-topic question)... which is an assumption that you made by reading into the problem.

While I agree completely that it's a poorly worded question, I think you own the failure to answer correctly.

What you should have done, of course, is to have sought clarification at the time. Even at that, "do nothing" is a manifestly incorrect answer.

It's exceedingly unlikely that this one question will result in a grade alteration and, to be frank yet again, if it does then you're not solidly in the higher grade range, anyway.

Move on and let it go (easier said than done, of course)

I completely suck at nursing school. I get it once I see the answer, but the answer is not always easily obtained. I'm currently failing, but may still pass.

How far along in school are you?

I looked at the question and immediately saw the 20% and overlooked the rest. I thought they meant they had lost 20% of their weight which is entirely possible. The textbook talks about hospitalization at 70% of their normal body weight and maybe a referral to a specialist at 80%. The answer was actually call the psychiatrist to institute force feeding. I picked do nothing. Very frustrating. Any reasonable person would answer this correctly if it was worded better.

See, I was right. I posited that perhaps you misread it, that the patient had lost 20% of body weight. That is what it said. The patient wasn't at 20% or body weight, she was at 80% of body weight, having lost 20%. This is actually a common question...and you'll never get it wrong again, will you?

Please note that there is a reason questions are worded like that. It's because people don't read them carefully, they make errors, and NCLEX doesn't want to let people that careless be nurses. They believe that a reasonable nurse would read it more carefully.

The onus is on you to be more careful-- there is nothing the matter with the question and they are not required to make their questions all idiot-proof. Not saying you're an idiot. But you are, by your own admission, careless. Take this as a cautionary tale.

never mind, read it wrong ;) (what I mean was I posted something about how I normally weigh 100lbs, and I went down to 80lbs during an illness and i was still alive. But I read the OP's post wrong and thought they were saying everyone would be dead if they lost 20% of their body weight, didn't see the OP was really saying, that anyone would be dead if hey WEIGHED only 20% of their ideal wt).

The question, in my opinion, should have used 50%, since that would be well below 70% for hospitalization and and a real possibility they are still alive. It also doesnt matter whether they lost or gained since it's a glass half empty or half full. The question did read "less than 20%" which I misinterpreted to be "20% less than" or 80%. Questions that are intentionally difficult to read don't prove anything in my opinion. What if a doctor wrote wordy doctors orders instead of just getting to the point and that lead you to make a mistake in a hospital situation?

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

YOu would call the MD with your questions and say.....this is how I read your order......am I understanding you correctly? If I do what your wrote I could kill the guy! At that point they will usually say uh...no what I meant to say......and you get a new order.

Very seldom have I had to stick my neck out about an order that was ridiculous or harmful and have to argue with the MD to change the order...but it does happen.

+ Add a Comment