A 38-Year-Old Man Is Brought to the Emergency Department Due

question 63

Multiple Choice

A 38-year-old man is brought to the emergency department due to progressive nausea, confusion, and unsteady gait.  Family members state that symptoms started 4 days ago after he went to the dentist due to a toothache, for which he was prescribed ibuprofen.  He also takes lithium for bipolar disorder.  On examination, he is drowsy and ataxic, having slurred speech and coarse tremors.  His serum lithium level is 3.86 mEq/L (therapeutic range: 0.8-1.2 mEq/L) , and serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen are elevated.  While in the emergency department, he develops a generalized tonic-clonic seizure.  During emergent hemodialysis treatment, his blood is passed along a semipermeable membrane and allowed to equilibrate with a dialysate solution.  Which of the following is most likely to increase the rate of drug removal?

• A)Adding lithium to the dialysis solution
• B)Decreasing dialysis solution temperature
• C)Decreasing the membrane pore size
• D)Increasing surface area of the membrane
• E)Increasing thickness of the membrane

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Definitions:

Divergent Thinking

A type of creative thinking that involves generating multiple unique solutions to a problem.

Mnemonic

A tool or strategy designed to assist in remembering information, such as a rhyme or an acronym.

Concrete Operational

A stage in Piaget's theory of cognitive development where children aged 7-12 years can logically think about concrete events.

Sensorimotor

A stage in Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development where infants from birth to about 2 years old understand the world through sensory experiences and their motor actions.