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Which body area would provide the best assessment here?

The nurse is assessing for the presence of cyanosis in a male dark-skinned client.

Asked by RN pedia, Last updated: Oct 31, 2024

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5 Answers

R. Hunter

R. Hunter

R. Hunter
R. Hunter

Answered Jul 05, 2020

The correct answer to this question is Lips. Cyanosis is a condition in which a patient would have an issue circulating blood throughout their body. All of the answers, except sacrum, can be used to diagnose a patient with cyanosis. However, it is easier to see this condition as a person with fair skin than it is to see the condition on a person with darker-skinned.

In that case, a person with darker skin would need to be checked by their lips, for a person with cyanosis normally has lips that turn gray. Along with that, the patient's tongue may also be discolored.

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J.Spencer

J.Spencer

Knowledge Enthusiast, Knows A Lot of Stuff.

J.Spencer
J.Spencer, Knowledge enthusiast, Tokyo

Answered Jan 28, 2019

Cyanosis is a disease caused due to poor circulation of blood in the body. All of the options except sacrum, given in the question can be used to detect cyanosis but the best bet would be the lips. This is because patients with darker skin will not easily show the bluish tinge the skin gets when suffering from cyanosis. The lips and tongue turn gray so it is the best bet for detecting cyanosis. The other parts mentioned will have an easily discernible bluish tinge if the patient is fair.

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L. Hawkes

L. Hawkes

L. Hawkes
L. Hawkes, Teacher, Memphis

Answered Jan 28, 2019

Cyanosis is a term many people probably haven’t heard of, but it seems like a common problem associated with other issues. Cyanosis is when someone’s appearance of their skin has a bluish tint to it because of not getting enough oxygen into their system.

For example, if a child began to choke on his or her food at dinnertime, then after a few minutes, the boy may be turning a bluish color. Sometimes, the bluish color may be difficult to see due to different skin tones. A darker skin tone may be difficult to see if there is a problem, but there would be other signs. If you wanted to know if cyanosis is setting in, then look at the lips.

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M. Klose

M. Klose

M. Klose
M. Klose, Content Writer, Oakland

Answered Jul 20, 2018

A black-colored patient may be hard to assess when he is suffering from cyanosis. It is best that the nurse will check for discoloration on the lips. The answer to this question is letter A. The nurse can check if the lips have a bluish tinge to it. Cyanosis is a condition wherein the body is suffering from poor circulation.

Another reason for this condition is not having enough oxygen in the blood. This may occur because the red blood cells do not carry enough oxygen for the rest of the body. The nurse can then start to do the required procedure If the patient is showing signs of having cyanosis.

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rN pedia

rN pedia

rN pedia
RN pedia

Answered Oct 23, 2017

Lips

In a dark-skinned client, the nurse examines the lips, tongue, nail beds, conjunctivae, and palms of the hands and soles of the feet at regular intervals for subtle color changes. In a client with cyanosis, the lips and tongue are gray; the palms, soles, conjunctivae, and nail beds have a bluish tinge.
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