test question

Editorial Team / Admin · Feb 6, 2006

I would have to have the question in it's entirety in order to have an opinion.

bigbee13 · Feb 6, 2006

Sutch, I would need to have the whole question and the answers to better answer the question. A big part could be does the question say he is not discussing it or he is not telling his family. If he is not discussiong the MI, this is the denial stage. Many pt's do not want to discuss the problem they have with the notion, If I do not discuss it, then it is not there. There are many points that could be made with that type of question however need to know the whole question and the choices. Hope this helps a little.

Headtrauma · Feb 6, 2006

Denial is the number one sign of a MI. In the 11 years working in the ER, it has been proven true to me several times.

Remember on your NCLEX that Denial+ cardiac = MI

Just my 2 cents.:beer:

kellyo, LPN · Feb 7, 2006

Denial is the number one sign of a MI. In the 11 years working in the ER, it has been proven true to me several times.
Remember on your NCLEX that Denial+ cardiac = MI
Just my 2 cents.:beer:

My 45 yo brother walked around w/ CP (told another brother that it was indigestion) for two days before he finally told his wife that his arms were numb. One MI, 3 stents and a CABG later, his wife amazed me by saying "who would have ever thought this would have happened?" Uhh, pretty much our family! Overweight, pre-diabetic, smoker, stressful job w/ a history of MI (maternal and paternal grandfathers). He's finally changed his lifestyle!

kjwalley · Feb 7, 2006

i can see how the answer would be denial cause most ppl think that if they dont talk about it then its not there(denial) . i work on a cardiac floor and that tends to be the trend they dont belive they could have had a mi at such a young age . however was there any rf's in the question cause that would help to better answer it. :rolleyes:

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Feb 7, 2006

As I got through the second line of your post my brain is screaming "DENIAL"! I think there are statistics on this too. I guess you haven't had CPR training yet. That is one of the things they talk about in CPR certification classes as well. It is the biggest reason people die--they refuse to believe they are having a heart problem, and boom! they keel over dead after a couple of hours of withstanding some chest pain (happened to one of my uncles)

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=30 - this short article from AHA tells that denial is common

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3018511 - another short article on heart disease and denial.

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3015683 - the introduction to this article mentions denial right off the bat.

I guess it's the way you look at the definition of denial. It is a refusal to believe or accept. Non-compliance with medical advice is also considered denial. Not revealing that you have heart disease to your family falls into that category of denial. AHA warns people that at the first sign of any kind of chest discomfort to get to a doctor. The reason AHA has been so aggressive over the years about pushing this point is that people ignore some mild pain which is often how an MI starts--that's denial. If you read up on heart disease and heart attacks you will find that attacks involving sudden, very acute sharp pain are NOT the norm. Attacks are insidious and the pain in the chest or the arm, neck or jaw can be very vague at first or during the initial onset of heart disease. For this reason people don't take it seriously and shrug it off as a little muscle soreness, perhaps. The common misperception is that an MI is sudden excruciating chest pain. That is not always true. People think, "it's nothing". Uh-huh. Cemetaries are filled with them. Also, the 30's and 40's are very young, but I've seen a good number of males in this age category that have the "big one" out of the blue and die because they don't go to the hospital. Who knows if they had any of those vague symptoms? If they did, they never said anything about them to anyone--that would be denial. When I first heard about John Ritter dying with a heart problem, my first thoughts were that he was in denial. It was reported that he had not been "feeling well" for a day or two before he keeled over. I wonder exactly what that meant. Only he knew. Guess you'll never miss a question like this about heart disease again, will you?

Gompers, BSN, RN · Feb 7, 2006

My first thought was denial as well. Being faced with a serious illness is often met with denial before acceptance (which includes dealing with the diagnosis and treatments, talking to family, basically "facing the music"). The fact that this man was in his 40's and already experience an MI is really serious, so I'm sure his prognosis wasn't the best - even more of a reason for him to be in denial because it was probably a surprise and his life basically changed overnight.