Exam 43: Assessment of Digestive and Gastrointestinal Function

A nurse in a stroke rehabilitation facility recognizes that the brain regulates swallowing. Damage to what area of the brain will most affect the patients ability to swallow?

An advanced practice nurse is assessing the size and density of a patients abdominal organs. If the results of palpation are unclear to the nurse, what assessment technique should be implemented?

A patient has sought care because of recent dark-colored stools. As a result, a fecal occult blood test has been ordered. The nurse should instruct the patient to avoid which of the following prior to collecting a stool sample?

A nurse is assessing the abdomen of a patient just admitted to the unit with a suspected GI disease. Inspection reveals several diverse lesions on the patients abdomen. How should the nurse best interpret this assessment finding?

A patient has been brought to the emergency department with abdominal pain and is subsequently diagnosed with appendicitis. The patient is scheduled for an appendectomy but questions the nurse about how his health will be affected by the absence of an appendix. How should the nurse best respond?

The nurse educator is reviewing the blood supply of the GI tract with a group of medical nurses. The nurse is explaining the fact that the veins that return blood from the digestive organs and the spleen form the portal venous system. What large veins will the nurse list when describing this system? Select all that apply.

A patient has come to the outpatient radiology department for diagnostic testing. Which of the following diagnostic procedures will allow the care team to evaluate and remove polyps?

A patient has been scheduled for a urea breath test in one months time. What nursing diagnosis most likely prompted this diagnostic test?

The nurse is providing health education to a patient scheduled for a colonoscopy. The nurse should explain that she will be placed in what position during this diagnostic test?

Probably the most widely used in-office or at-home occult blood test is the Hemoccult II. The patient has come to the clinic because he thinks there is blood in his stool. When you reviewed his medications, you noted he is on antihypertensive drugs and NSAIDs for early arthritic pain. You are sending the patient home with the supplies necessary to perform 2 hemoccult tests on his stool and mail the samples back to the clinic. What instruction would you give this patient?

A nurse is caring for an 83-year-old patient who is being assessed for recurrent and intractable nausea. What age-related change to the GI system may be a contributor to the patients health complaint?

A nurse is caring for a patient admitted with a suspected malabsorption disorder. The nurse knows that one of the accessory organs of the digestive system is the pancreas. What digestive enzymes does the pancreas secrete? Select all that apply.

A nurse is promoting increased protein intake to enhance a patients wound healing. The nurse knows that enzymes are essential in the digestion of nutrients such as protein. What is the enzyme that initiates the digestion of protein?

A nurse is providing preprocedure education for a patient who will undergo a lower GI tract study the following week. What should the nurse teach the patient about bowel preparation?

A nurse is caring for a patient with biliary colic and is aware that the patient may experience referred abdominal pain. Where would the nurse most likely expect this patient to experience referred pain?

A patient with cystic fibrosis takes pancreatic enzyme replacements on a regular basis. The patients intake of trypsin facilitates what aspect of GI function?

The physiology instructor is discussing the GI system with the pre-nursing class. What should the instructor describe as a major function of the GI tract?

A nurse is caring for a newly admitted patient with a suspected GI bleed. The nurse assesses the patients stool after a bowel movement and notes it to be a tarry-black color. This finding is suggestive of bleeding from what location?

A patient is being assessed for a suspected deficit in intrinsic factor synthesis. What diagnostic or assessment finding is the most likely rationale for this examination of intrinsic factor production?

The nurse is caring for a patient who has a diagnosis of AIDS. Inspection of the patients mouth reveals the new presence of white lesions on the patients oral mucosa. What is the nurses most appropriate response?