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Discussion

Help on understanding

I start nursing classes in 2 weeks and have been browsing through some of the books. Theres questions in the books where the thinking is totally different than the way I think (geared toward how nurses are supposed to think) but I'm kind of stuck on this.

An 86 year old patient is being discharged to home on digitalis therapy and has very little information regarding the medication. Which of the following statements best reflects a realistic goal or outcome of patient teaching activites?

a. The patient and patient daughter will state the correct dosing and administeration of the drug.

b. The nurse will provide teaching about the drug's adverse effects.

c. The patient will state all symptoms of digitalis toxicity.

d. The patient will call the physician if adverse effects occur.

I ruled out answer -a- and -c- and thought -b- and -d- should be the correct.

I thought the nurse should inform the patient of the drug and if anything were to happen to the patient would notify his physician.

But the book states -a- is the correct answer.

WHy would that be? Isn't it dangerous for the patient and his daughter to state when and how much of the drug to take?

Wouldn't the physician be the one ordering the time and amount of the drug?

Or is this something I would learn when school starts? Is this a thinking process that I am missing or am I not thinking like a nurse?

Featured Replies

  • Experts

A would be correct because they are asking for a goal for patient teaching. The pt and the daughter need to know the correct dosage and administration of the drug because the pt is being discharged home.

  • Author

Thank you Loriangel14 !

I didn't really get it till after I read your reply and the question a few times. ' realistic goal or outcome ' was what they were focusing on. I didn't even see that, my eyes just went straight to 'patient teaching' and saw nurse and doctor should do that.

Thanks again, every word in the sentence is important.

  • Experts

an 86 year old patient is being discharged to home on digitalis therapy and has very little information regarding the medication. which of the following statements best reflects a realistic goal or outcome of patient teaching activities?

a. the patient and patient daughter will state the correct dosing and administration of the drug.

b. the nurse will provide teaching about the drug's adverse effects.

c. the patient will state all symptoms of digitalis toxicity.

d. the patient will call the physician if adverse effects occur.

you have to read these questions very carefully as well as understand what it is they are asking. the root of the question gives you some information and then asks
which of the following statements
best
reflects a realistic
goal or outcome
of patient teaching activities?
first of all, you have to know what a goal or outcome is. a goal/outcome is the predicted result of our independent nursing actions. secondly, you have to specifically know what a realistic goal of teaching the
discharged
patient about digitalis therapy. discharge plans include reviewing with the patient the medications that they need to take when they go home.

of the answer choices
b. the nurse will provide teaching about the drug's adverse effects
is a nursing intervention, or nursing action. while
c. the patient will state all symptoms of digitalis toxicity
and
d. the patient will call the physician if adverse effects occur
are potential goals or outcomes that both focus on complications of digitalis therapy, how can one be more right than the other? in the words of the problem, that's just not a
realistic
choice to make. so, they cannot be appropriate
discharge
instructions
in this case
and pretty much cancel each other out. when discharging a patient you want to go over the doctors medication orders, remind him what the dose is, make sure the patient has a prescription or supply of the drug, understands how often to take it, how it's taken and send him on his way. the fact is that he will have been getting this medication already in the hospital and adverse effects should have been discussed every time his doses were given to him. digoxin takes a few days to build up in the system.

Or is this something I would learn when school starts? Is this a thinking process that I am missing or am I not thinking like a nurse?

You will learn to read each exam question at least three times and that underlining the key point of the question is a good idea! I have had classmates tell me that a question they got wrong was right, and they can't figure out why it was wrong until I point out a key word in the question that they missed. I started marking up all my tests pretty quick!

I would pick A before the other options, because it is a realistic goal. The patient is going home, so knowing the dose and how to administer the drug are priorities before the other responses. Think this way: If the patient dont take the drug first, there wont be any adverse reactions; therefore, would not need to contact the physician. The outcome you want is the patient telling you the amount of dose and the route to administer the med.

This will be something as you go through your schooling that you will better be able to answer. The big thing is that it is patient centered, and as a nurse, you'll know they will understand the teaching by what they confirm to you.

One of the things you will hear a lot about and doing once you start school are the nursing care plans. Many people groan about them, but they are a great way to start understanding and developing your critical thinking (a big buzz word in nursing). Each part (assessment, diagnosis, plan, intervention and evaluation) is very important, and as you go along, you will see this.

In this particular question, you are evaluating the teaching intervention to see that the patient understands and verbalizes this understanding, or you may need to take further steps to make the patient understand.

This will be something as you go through your schooling that you will better be able to answer. The big thing is that it is patient centered, and as a nurse, you'll know they will understand the teaching by what they confirm to you.

One of the things you will hear a lot about and doing once you start school are the nursing care plans. Many people groan about them, but they are a great way to start understanding and developing your critical thinking (a big buzz word in nursing). Each part (assessment, diagnosis, plan, intervention and evaluation) is very important, and as you go along, you will see this.

In this particular question, you are evaluating the teaching intervention to see that the patient understands and verbalizes this understanding, or you may need to take further steps to make the patient understand.

I can see this being true. I am not in Nursing school yet, but I have started to read Charting: Made Incredibly Easy. I was able to come to the same answer as other posters: answer A. It made the most sense based off what I have read so far. I had no idea there were so many different meathods of charting. Interesting.

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