A 75-year-old female patient presented to the office for an annual wellness visit. During the nurse's assessment, the patient explains she has been experiencing bilateral knee pain for the past eleven months. Based on the duration of the patient's symptoms, how would the nurse categorize the patient's pain?
Acute Pain
Intermittent Pain
Chronic Pain
Idiopathic Pain
The Correct Answer is C
Choice A reason:
Acute pain is typically sudden in onset and is usually the result of a specific injury or illness. It is characterized by its sharp quality and tends to last for a short duration, generally not longer than six months. Since the patient's knee pain has persisted for eleven months, it does not fall under the category of acute pain.
Choice B reason:
Intermittent pain is pain that comes and goes at intervals. Although the patient's pain could be intermittent, the classification based on duration would not be described as intermittent. This term refers more to the pattern of the pain rather than its chronicity or cause.
Choice C reason:
Chronic pain is defined as pain that persists for longer than six months, often continuing even after the injury or illness that caused it has healed. The patient's bilateral knee pain has been present for eleven months, which exceeds the six-month threshold, thus categorizing it as chronic pain.
Choice D reason:
Idiopathic pain refers to pain that arises without a clear cause. It is not categorized based on the duration of the pain but rather on the absence of an identifiable underlying reason. Since the patient's pain has a specific duration, it is not appropriate to classify it as idiopathic without further information regarding its cause.
Nursing Test Bank
Naxlex Comprehensive Predictor Exams
Related Questions
Correct Answer is D
Explanation
Choice a reason:
Exophthalmos, or protrusion of the eyeballs, is not a typical finding in hypothyroidism. It is more commonly associated with hyperthyroidism, particularly Graves' disease, which is characterized by an overactive thyroid gland.
Choice b reason:
Photophobia, or light sensitivity, is not a common symptom of hypothyroidism. While it can be associated with other conditions, it is not directly related to the function of the thyroid gland.
Choice c reason:
Weight loss is typically not associated with hypothyroidism. In fact, individuals with hypothyroidism often experience weight gain due to a slowed metabolism, which is the opposite of weight loss.
Choice d reason:
Lethargy is a common symptom of hypothyroidism. The condition can lead to a decrease in thyroid hormone production, which can slow down the body's metabolism, resulting in feelings of fatigue, sluggishness, and lethargy.
Correct Answer is C
Explanation
Choice A Reason:
The Review of Systems (ROS) is a systematic approach for collecting the patient's self-reported data on all body systems. It is not typically where the narrative of symptoms is documented. Instead, the ROS is used to uncover symptoms the patient may not have mentioned during the initial recounting of their history.
Choice B Reason:
The Chief Complaint (CC) is a concise statement describing the symptom, problem, condition, diagnosis, or other factors that are the reason for the encounter, usually stated in the patient's words¹. While it does include the symptom prompting the visit, it is not the section where a detailed narrative or description of symptoms is provided.
Choice C Reason:
The History of Present Illness (HPI) is indeed where the detailed narrative of the patient's symptoms is documented. It includes the onset of the problem, the setting in which it developed, its manifestations, and any treatments to date. The HPI tells the story of the patient's chief complaint and provides context for the clinical reasoning process.
Choice D Reason:
The Past Medical History (PMH) includes information about the patient's past experiences with illnesses, operations, injuries, and treatments. It does not contain the current symptoms' narrative but rather the patient's health status before the present illness or concern.
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