A nurse is educating a student about cerebral edema.
The student nurse inquires, “What type of cerebral edema is associated with a patient who has had a stroke?” Which of the following is the best response from the nurse?

Choice A rationale

Respiratory therapy is primarily concerned with the treatment and management of a patient’s breathing. While swallowing difficulties can potentially lead to respiratory issues such as aspiration pneumonia, the primary role of evaluating and treating swallowing difficulties falls outside the scope of respiratory therapy.
Choice B rationale
Nutritional therapy would be involved in managing the dietary needs of a patient with Parkinson’s disease, including modifications to food texture and liquid consistency if swallowing difficulties are present. However, the evaluation and treatment of the swallowing difficulty itself would be managed by a speech therapist.
Choice C rationale
Occupational therapy could assist with adaptations to enhance the patient’s feeding skills and independence during meals. However, the specific evaluation and treatment of swallowing function is typically within the scope of a speech therapist.
Choice D rationale
Speech therapists, or speech-language pathologists, are the professionals specifically trained to evaluate and treat individuals with speech, language, voice, and swallowing disorders. This would include a patient with Parkinson’s disease experiencing difficulty swallowing.

Choice A rationale
Cancer pain is usually associated with the growth of a tumor or the side effects of cancer treatment. Phantom limb pain is not related to cancer.
Choice B rationale
Phantom limb pain is considered a type of neuropathic pain. This is because it is associated with nerve damage or malfunctioning nerves in the area where the limb was amputated.
Choice C rationale
Chronic pain is a broad term that refers to any pain that lasts for more than 12 weeks. While phantom limb pain can become chronic, this term does not specifically describe the type of pain experienced in phantom limb syndrome.
Choice D rationale
Acute pain is a type of pain that comes on suddenly and has a specific cause, usually related to tissue damage. Phantom limb pain is not considered acute pain because it is not related to new tissue damage.