Test question has me confused...

[mdiada]

So I just took my fourth nursing exam, and one question asked about a diabetes patient who had symptoms of lethargy and weakness. Well, two of the answers made sense, with one saying to ch3ck the blood sugar first, and the other said to give sugary foods and whatnot. I finally settled on the first answer of checking blood sugar, and it counted it wrong. Can someone explain to me why it wouldn't be appropriate to first check sugar levels before doing anything else?

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

What were the other options and the correct answer?

Think about what the question was asking you; what were the last two that you have left out were asking, and what was the particular question asking?

[NICUmiiki, DNP, NP]

First, in NCLEX world..... the option you choose is your only action. Which one will keep the patient from becoming dead? When you pick an assessment type answer, you're saying that you're going to assess and do nothing else, so that better be the most appropriate action if you pick it. In real life, you're probably checking the blood sugar while someone goes and gets the sugary food at the same time.

In an emergency situation such as that, a very low blood sugar is worse than a high one. Better to raise it quickly and risk it being a little high than to prolong a low blood sugar.

[mdiada]

Yes, that is what I was thinking, but what got me is we just had clinicals recently, and someone in my group was in this exact same position with a patient having those symptoms, and the first thing our professor had her do was check blood sugar. It makes total sense that getting blood sugar up is the most important, but my answer was really based on what actually happened in my group.

I will keep that bit of info on NCLEX in mind. That helps a lot, actually! Thanks for that! :-)

[RUmedic]

You follow the right track of assessing before implementing, however the root of the question would always be indicative whether or not there's some assessment that has already been made.

In this case, your question contains enough background information. It has that this is a diabetes patient who is weak, lethargic, etc. Is this time to assess more or to implement?

If there was no reference made to diabetes, it would then make sense to assess the glucose level and then give sugary drinks, etc. NCLEX is all about tricky questions like this.

[joe a.]

First, it's not wrong. Knowing the blood sugar is a very important assessment tool. In an emergency situation, TIME is of the essence. In the scenario you provide, you are in an emergency situation. Diabetes has a pathophysiology that is extremely complicated and daunting. It is not your primary concern to "diagnose" an event. The goal is of a preventative nature.

In this case, giving sugar is the best action, and here's why. If the patient is hypoglycemic, the sugar will be exactly what the doctor ordered. If the patient is hyperglycemic, the added sugar most likely will not cause significant deterioration of the event. The time spent for testing bs, could be the difference between an alert patient, and a patient you try to catch while fainting.

I hope this helps.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

It's more critical to treat hypoglycemia than hyper and your patient is a diabetic exhibiting classic signs of hypoglycemia. The answer is to administer glucose. Better that than glucagon once your patient is unresponsive...