Medical Tests CEN - Questions & Answers

The patient would be considered legally blind if the result of the Snellen chart test is 20/200 vision. This means that the patient is able to read at 20 feet what a person with normal vision can read at 200 feet.
Legal blindness is defined as 20/200 or less with corrected vision or visual acuity of less than 20 degrees of the visual field in the better eye.

The normal intraocular pressure of the eye is 10 to 21 mm Hg. The test used to measure intraocular pressure is called a tonometry. This is how glaucoma is diagnosed. A patient with glaucoma would have an intraocular pressure of 30 to 70 mm Hg.

The patient should be placed in semi-fowlers position on bed rest. A hyphema is caused by a force, such as hitting your head on the steering wheel, strong enough to break the blood vessels in the eye. Placing the patient in semi-fowlers position lets gravity work to keep the hyphema away from the optical center of the cornea.

You would want to perform visual acuity tests on the affected eye first. This allows the nurse to assess any damage to the vision. Any foreign objects in the eye should only be removed by an ophthalmologist. Do not cover or rinse eye because it may dislodge foreign objects and cause further damage to the eye.

The first reaction by the nurse should be to irrigate the eye with normal saline. This should be done for at least 10 minutes to remove any chemicals from the eye. Following irrigation of the eye the patient should have visual acuity tests to determine the extent of damage to the eye.

The nurse would know that the physician will order diluted alcohol irrigation of the affected ear. This will suffocate the insect so it can be removed from the ear with forceps. If the foreign object were vegetable matter, irrigation would not be performed due to the enlargement of the object when it is hydrated, which would make the impaction worse.

A basal skull fracture would be indicated by bloody or clear drainage from the auditory canal. This indicates a cerebrospinal fluid leak from the fracture. This is a medical emergency and needs to be addressed by the physician immediately.

Tinnitus is the most common complaint of patients with disorders of the inner ear. Tinnitus is a ringing in the ear that can be loud intolerable ringing or mild ringing that can be unnoticed during the day.

The patient should not sleep on the right side following surgery. The patient should be placed in a semi-
Fowler position to minimize edema and intraocular pressure. The patient should wear glasses and a protective shield over the affected eye.

Older patients with hearing loss respond better to low pitch sounds. Age-related changes of the inner ear are called presbycusis. As a result of these changes the patient often loses the ability to hear high-pitched sounds.