PN End of Life HESI Case Study

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PN End of Life HESI Case Study Questions and Answers | Latest Version | 2025/2026 | Correct & Verified

What is the most important priority for a nurse when providing end-of-life care to a patient who is restless and anxious?

• Administer routine laxatives

✔✔B. Ensure comfort and reduce anxiety

• Increase dietary fiber
• Encourage ambulation

A patient at the end of life refuses food and fluids. What is the best nursing action?

• Insist they eat for strength
• Call dietary to bring extra snacks

✔✔C. Respect the patient’s choice and provide mouth care

• Start a feeding tube immediately

When educating a family about signs of impending death, which is most appropriate to include?

• Increased urinary output 1 / 3

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• Improved appetite

✔✔C. Irregular breathing and mottled skin

• Heightened alertness

The primary goal of palliative care at the end of life is:

• To cure the underlying disease
• To prolong life at all costs

✔✔C. To relieve symptoms and promote comfort

• To prepare the patient for discharge

Which intervention helps reduce “death rattle” secretions at the end of life?✔✔A. Repositioning the patient

• Increasing IV fluids
• Encouraging oral hydration
• Providing solid food

Which statement by a family member indicates understanding of hospice care?

• “Hospice will provide curative treatment.” 2 / 3

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✔✔B. “Hospice will focus on comfort and quality of life.”

• “Hospice will provide expensive new treatments.”
• “Hospice will discharge the patient once better.”

A patient with terminal cancer reports severe pain despite opioid therapy. The nurse’s priority

action is:

• Wait for the next scheduled dose
• Document the complaint

✔✔C. Notify the provider for additional pain management

• Offer water

What is the best nursing action when a patient nearing death expresses fear of being alone?

• Ask the family to leave for privacy

✔✔B. Stay with the patient or arrange presence of loved ones

• Dim the lights and leave quietly
• Encourage deep breathing exercises

A dying patient shows signs of Cheyne-Stokes respirations. The nurse should:

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