Practice Question
A nurse is caring for a 15-year-old adolescent who has cellulitis of the left lower calf.
Answer Choices:
Rationale:
🔵 1. Temperature
📌Day 1: 38.8°C (101.8°F)
📌Day 2: 37.6°C (99.7°F)
✔️ Indication of potential improvement
🌡️ A decrease in temperature suggests that the body is responding to treatment (e.g., antibiotics), and the inflammatory response is subsiding.
🌡️ Fever is a common early sign of cellulitis, and its resolution within 24 hours indicates effective infection control.
🌡️ Continual monitoring is still needed, but this downward trend is a positive clinical sign.
🔴 2. WBC Count
📌Day 1: 14,000/mm³
📌Day 2: 15,000/mm³
✔️ Indication of potential worsening condition
🦠 An increasing WBC count suggests a persisting or worsening inflammatory response or infection.
🦠 In cellulitis, WBC elevation is expected early on, but a continued rise after 24 hours may indicate inadequate response to treatment, need for antibiotic adjustment, or development of complications (e.g., abscess formation).
🦠 This finding warrants further evaluation and possibly repeating blood work or imaging.
🔴 3. Weight-bearing ability on the affected leg
📌Unable to bear weight or worsening pain
✔️ Indication of potential worsening condition
🦵 Inability or increased difficulty bearing weight on the affected leg can indicate worsening local inflammation, pain, or tissue involvement.
🦵 It may suggest expanding cellulitis, deeper soft tissue involvement, or even potential abscess formation.
🦵 Increasing pain or functional limitation is a key sign that the infection has not stabilized, despite systemic improvements like reduced fever.
🔴 4. Wound Assessment
Increased erythema, swelling, warmth, or drainage
✔️ Indication of potential worsening condition
🔍 Local wound deterioration (e.g., spreading redness, new purulent drainage, or worsening edema) is a direct sign of cellulitis progression.
🔍 Even if systemic symptoms improve, worsening at the wound site indicates that the infection remains active or localized treatment is insufficient.
🔍 This requires reassessment of wound care, antibiotic regimen, and possibly imaging to rule out abscess or deeper involvement.
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This question is from RN ATI Paediatrics Nursing 2023 which contains 95 questions.
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Question Details
- Category: RN Nursing Exam(s)
- Subcategory: ATI Exam(s)
- Domain: RN ATI Pediatrics
- Answer Choices: 0