NCLEX Practice Questions Physical Assessment

Correct Answer: D

Rationale: It is important to maintain a calm demeanor when walking into the examination room to speak with your first clinic patient, especially in a busy and high-pressure situation. Demonstrating calmness will help to build rapport with the patient, create a sense of trust, and promote effective communication. This demeanor will also convey professionalism and confidence, which are essential qualities for a healthcare provider. Displaying irritability, impatience, or boredom can negatively impact the patient-provider relationship and hinder effective communication, potentially compromising the quality of care provided.

Correct Answer: A

Rationale: Mr. Kelly's scenario is consistent with the phenomenon called "white coat hypertension," where an individual's blood pressure readings are elevated in a medical setting due to anxiety or stress, but are normal when measured at home. This discrepancy between office and home readings is a key indicator of white coat hypertension. Additionally, the fact that Mr. Kelly has been consistently monitoring his blood pressure at home and has kept a log supports the likelihood that his elevated readings in the office are primarily due to the stress of being in that environment. It is important to acknowledge white coat hypertension as a common occurrence and not necessarily a reflection of true high blood pressure that requires immediate medical intervention.

Correct Answer: C

Rationale: Given the patient's presentation of itching, anorectal pain, and tenesmus, along with rectal examination findings of generalized tenderness without prostate abnormalities, proctitis is the most likely diagnosis. Proctitis is inflammation of the rectal lining and is commonly associated with symptoms such as rectal pain, itching, tenesmus (feeling of incomplete defecation), and sometimes rectal bleeding. It can have various causes, including sexually transmitted infections (such as gonorrhea, chlamydia), inflammatory bowel disease, radiation therapy, or trauma.

Correct Answer: A

Rationale: The most likely diagnosis for this patient's symptoms and signs is acute diverticulitis. His presentation of abdominal pain, constipation, and low-grade fever, along with tenderness over the left lower quadrant, is consistent with diverticulitis, which is inflammation or infection of small pouches (diverticula) that can develop in the colon. The history of recent onset of symptoms after consuming popcorn, typically a high-fiber food that can exacerbate diverticulitis, further supports this diagnosis. The negative fecal occult blood test makes more acute intra-abdominal processes like acute appendicitis less likely. Acute cholecystitis would present with right upper quadrant pain, and mesenteric ischemia typically presents with severe abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting, as well as signs of abdominal distress.

Correct Answer: C

Rationale: To determine whether a murmur is systolic or diastolic, you should judge the relative length of systole and diastole by auscultation. Systolic murmurs occur during systole, which is the phase of the cardiac cycle when the heart is contracting and pushing blood out of the chambers. Diastolic murmurs occur during diastole, which is the phase when the heart is relaxing and filling with blood. By carefully listening to the timing of the murmur in relation to the cardiac cycle, you can determine if it is systolic or diastolic. Palpating the carotid pulse (Choice A) or radial pulse (Choice B) can help assess the pulse characteristics, but it does not directly determine whether a murmur is systolic or diastolic. Correlating the murmur with a bedside heart monitor (Choice D) may provide additional information about heart rate or rhythm, but it does not specifically indicate