The Royal Marsden Hospital Manual of Clinical Nursing Procedures - Lisa Dougherty [596]
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Multiple choice questions
1 What are the professional responsibilities of the qualified nurse in medicines management?
a Making sure that the group of patients that they are caring for receive their medications on time. If they are not competent to administer intravenous medications, they should ask a competent nursing colleague to do so on their behalf.
b The safe handling and administration of all medicines to patients in their care. This includes making sure that patients understand the medicines they are taking, the reason they are taking them and the likely side effects.
c Making sure they know the names, actions, doses and side effects of all the medications used in their area of clinical practice.
d To liaise closely with pharmacy so that their knowledge is kept up to date.
2 What are the key reasons for administering medications to patients?
a To provide relief from specific symptoms, for example pain, and managing side effects as well as therapeutic purposes.
b As part of the process of diagnosing their illness, to prevent an illness, disease or side effect, to offer relief from symptoms or to treat a disease.
c As part of the treatment of long-term diseases, for example heart failure, and the prevention of diseases such as asthma.
d To treat acute illness, for example antibiotic therapy for a chest infection, and side effects such as nausea.
3 What are the most common types of medication error?
a Nurses being interrupted when completing their drug rounds, different drugs being packaged similarly and stored in the same place and calculation errors.
b Unsafe handling and poor aseptic technique.
c Doctors not prescribing correctly and poor communication with the multidisciplinary team.
d Administration of the wrong drug, in the wrong amount to the wrong patient, via the wrong route.
4 A patient has collapsed with an anaphylactic reaction. What symptoms would you expect to see?
a The patient will have a low blood pressure (hypotensive) and will have a fast heart rate (tachycardia) usually associated with skin and mucosal changes.
b The patient will have a high blood pressure (hypertensive) and will have a fast heart rate (tachycardia).
c The patient will quickly find breathing very difficult because of compromise to their airway or circulation. This is accompanied by skin and mucosal changes.
d The patient will experience a sense of impending doom, hyperventilate and be itchy all over.
5 What are the potential benefits of self-administration of medicines by patients?
a Nurses have more time for other aspects of patient care and it therefore reduces length of stay.
b It gives patients more control and allows them to take the medications on time, as well as giving them the opportunity to address any concerns with their medication before they are discharged home.
c Reduces