Comprehensive Nursing Pharmacology Q 47
The client’s ability to take oral medications will be hindered by:
A. Age
B. Dental caries
C. Dysphagia
D. Lifestyle
Correct Answer: C. Dysphagia
Dysphagia is difficulty in swallowing. This would make the administration of oral medications impossible. Other choices do not impair ingestion. Most pills, tablets, and gel caps are designed to be swallowed whole. Chewing, breaking, or crushing them can change how the medication is digested and absorbed into the body. This change can affect the way a medication works and increase the chance of drug-related problems or side effects. For example, taking an altered oral opioid medication can cause breathing problems or even a life-threatening overdose. (Alternatively, the altered drugs might stay in an inactive state, so that pain is left untreated.)
Option A: It is thought that elderly individuals tend to need more time to consume food and the efficiency of the muscles involved in swallowing is reduced and more fatigable. An increased prevalence of aspiration and pneumonia is associated with the fatigue of the infrahyoid and suprahyoid muscle groups with repetitive swallowing during meals. The duration of swallows and total drinking time are significantly increased in the elderly.
Option B: Oral health impacts systemic health. Therefore, oral care is an important consideration in maintaining the quality of life (QOL). Previously, maintenance and improvement of oral hygiene were considered essential for achieving oral health. In addition to oral hygiene, oral care in terms of oral function is now considered to maintain QOL. Ingestion of exogenous nutrients via the oral cavity is fundamental to the function of all higher animals, not only human beings. Chewing and swallowing processes are critical for normal food intake, and adequate saliva supply and oral care to allow proper functioning of these processes are indispensable for maintaining QOL.
Option D: Many different medications are taken orally (by mouth). They come as solid tablets, capsules, chewable tablets, or lozenges to be swallowed whole or sucked on, or as drinkable liquids such as drops, syrups, or solutions. In most cases, the ingredients in oral medication don’t enter the bloodstream until they reach the stomach or bowel. Sometimes the drug is absorbed by the lining of the mouth like is the case with lozenges. Some active ingredients – for example, certain laxatives or contrast agents – aren’t meant to enter the bloodstream in large quantities at all.