The nurse is monitoring a child with hydrocephalus who received a repeat ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt yesterday. Which assessment finding indicates to the nurse that the shunt is functioning normally?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A.
The child has grown in height since the previous shunt placement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
B.
The child is afebrile with normal vital signs postoperatively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
C.
An intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring probe is in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
D.
The child reports no evidence of continuous headaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The correct answer is D. The child reports no evidence of continuous headaches.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Hydrocephalus is a condition where excess cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) accumulates in the brain’s ventricles, leading to increased intracranial pressure (ICP). A ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt is a device surgically inserted to drain the excess CSF from the brain’s ventricles to the peritoneal cavity, where it can be absorbed. The goal of the shunt is to reduce ICP and prevent complications like brain damage, headaches, and developmental delays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A key indicator of a properly functioning VP shunt is the absence of symptoms related to increased ICP, such as headaches. Continuous or worsening headaches are a common sign of shunt malfunction, which can result from shunt blockage, infection, or failure. If the child does not report continuous headaches, it suggests that the shunt is adequately draining CSF, and ICP is within normal limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Option B<\/strong> (the child is afebrile with normal vital signs) relates to general postoperative health, not specifically to shunt function. While stable vitals and no fever are important for recovery, they do not directly indicate that the shunt is working as intended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Option C<\/strong> (an ICP monitoring probe is in place) refers to the use of a device to measure ICP, which can help monitor shunt function, but it is not a direct indicator of normal shunt function by itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Option A<\/strong> (the child has grown in height) is unrelated to shunt function. Growth is expected over time but is not a valid criterion for assessing the immediate effectiveness of the shunt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In summary, the absence of continuous headaches<\/strong> is a strong indication that the shunt is functioning as it should by reducing ICP and managing the symptoms of hydrocephalus. Monitoring for other symptoms like nausea, vomiting, irritability, and changes in consciousness is also critical for assessing shunt performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The nurse is monitoring a child with hydrocephalus who received a repeat ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt yesterday. Which assessment finding indicates to the nurse that the shunt is functioning normally? A.The child has grown in height since the previous shunt placement. B.The child is afebrile with normal vital signs postoperatively. C.An intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring probe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141074\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}